Disclaimers: Same as Ch1

Spoilers: Mainly from Stargate SG-1

AN: Thanks again to all the readers, I'm hoping to update daily, maybe twice I don't know

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At Stargate Command...

The lift door opened and Jack saw the man he was supposed to meeting, General Hank Landry

"Captain Harkness?" he said, Jack smiled and shook his hand

"Thanks for arranging this for me" he replied. The General laughed

"If you want your man back you're going to have quite a fight on your hands, I've already got the chief engineer on the Daedalus, our own Dr Lee and Colonel Carter on Atlantis demanding he work for them" he replied. Jack frowned; it looked like it wasn't going to be so easy to get Ianto back

"Let's hope they won't be too disappointed when he decides to come home" Jack replied. Landry led him through the Gateroom and into his office

"I've arranged for you to talk to him via a link to the Daedalus, where he's stationed at the moment, Walter!!" he yelled for his Chief

"Dr Novak is online and waiting for you on your terminal sir" called back Sgt Walter Harriman. Landry sighed and rolled his eyes

"I swear he gets more like Radar every day" he said, he sat in front of his computer and greeted the thin faced woman with her hair tightly pinned in a bun, Jack thought she looked terrified of the General

"General Landry...um...what...um...is...is...'hic' oh damn" she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself "is there a problem 'hic' oh for God's sake" she said. Landry chuckled

"She gets hiccups when she's nervous" he murmured to Jack

"So I see" he whispered back

"No Dr Novak there's no problem, I've got someone here who wants to speak to your Mr Jones" he said as he got up and Jack sat in his place, he flashed his megawatt grin at her causing her to fumble and drop her pen

"Hi, can I speak to Ianto please" he said

"Sure" she dropped her pen again "I...um...I'll just give him 'hic' oh kill me now, Ianto!!'Hic' you're 'hic' wanted" she called. She got up and left the chair empty for Ianto, Jack could hear his voice coming nearer

"Lin, stand on your head and drink a glass of water" he yelled, then ducked as a pen flew in his direction, he sat down chuckling and looked up at the screen, his face instantly slipped into the bland mask that Jack knew so well

"What can I do for you sir?" he asked formally. Of all the scenarios Jack had imagined their reunion to be, this definitely wasn't one of them, all smart remarks, innuendos and double entendre's that he's planned to use fled from his mind

"I want you to come back to Torchwood" he said simply, Ianto gave a bitter laugh

"Why?" he asked. At the back of his mind Jack had expected Ianto to come running when asked to return, put on the back foot he fumbled for an answer

"Um...we need you back at Torchwood, we miss you" he said lamely

"Right, you need me, in other words you can't work the coffee machine" Ianto sneered

"No, it's not like that, we were a team Yan" said Jack.

"A team!" Ianto was incredulous "A team, you Tosh, Owen, Suzie and then Gwen were a team, I was the one who cleared up after you, the one who made sure Torchwood's tracks were covered, the one who was left behind when you all went out to celebrate saving he world, the one who was only missed when the coffee was late and the only one who ever made the bloody coffee, that's how much of a 'team' we were Jack". Jack flinched as all Ianto's hurt and anger came spilling out "the one time I really thought you cared, the one time I thought I could let you in without having my heart trampled on you ran off and left with the Doctor, oh I know all that nonsense about having to 'find your answers' but you wouldn't even tell me what the questions were, that's how much you trusted me" he said.

"Ianto please, let me explain" Jack begged

"Which basically means you'll lie your head off" retorted Ianto

"No, I promise, just come back to Torchwood and I'll explain everything, the whole truth about me, the Doctor, my past and what happened when I left, please Yan, please come back, I need you" Jack pleaded.

"No, I'm not coming back to Torchwood, I've got a job I love, one where I can actually use the skills I was trained for, I've got a group of friends that I care for and who care for me in return and I've got respect, something I never got from you, why would I throw all this away to become your whipping boy again?" he spat. Ianto's resolve nearly cracked when he saw the look of devastation on Jack's face, but he couldn't give in, if he cracked now he may as well get his suits out of storage,

"Put like that I can see why you don't want to leave" said Jack softly

"I'm..." Ianto pulled himself up sharply, why should he be sorry "I'm going to have to go Jack I've got work to do, give my love to Tosh, Owen and Gwen" he said as he got up and left. Jack slumped forward and slid his hands into his hair, how had it all gone so horribly wrong, his ego said that Ianto was wrong and he'd never meant to do any of those things and Ianto had read him all wrong, but the rest of him admitted that every word Ianto had spoken was true, just as Tosh's had been the day he returned to the hub, he was a monster who had no regard for anyone but himself, no matter how hard he pretended that he'd changed, underneath he was still that reckless playboy who was out for what he could get and didn't care who he hurt in the process. He looked up as Dr Novak cleared her throat

"Um...do you want me to get him to call you back when he's calmed down a bit?" she asked, Jack shook his head

"No, I'll try later, face to face, if he'll see me" he replied, she smiled

"If you're sure" she said, Jack nodded again and switched the monitor off.

Ianto slumped in his chair, he hadn't meant to say all of those things to Jack, not in quite that way but seeing his face again had bought all the pain to the surface, he had known Jack was back, Delilah had told him Gwen had called with the news that he'd returned, he wasn't going to call back but Delilah had told Gwen she'd get him to call so he did, only to be told Jack was on his way to Colorado to bring him back, his resolve had hardened, he wasn't going to be dragged back to Wales like some naughty schoolboy so he'd volunteered to go aboard the Daedalus to help with their battle simulation programme. He took a gulp of coffee, which reminded him even more of his old life and threw the mug against the bulkhead,

"Why don't you take a break, Dr Zelenka can take over for a while if you want" said Dr Lindsey Novak as she gently squeezed his shoulder

"Yeah maybe I should, before I do more damage to the mug stocks" he replied with a wry smile

"I think he's going to try again, when you get back to Earth I mean, he said he was going to try face to face" she said

"It won't work, I'm not going to leave the SGC, I'm not going to let him walk all over me, not again" he retorted

"At least talk to him, now all the yelling and screaming is out of the way you might be able to be reasonable with each other" she said. Ianto thought it over

"Maybe, I'll see how I feel later, do you fancy some tea?" he said with a grin, Lindsey laughed

"Yeah, why not, now that coffee's off the menu" she replied.

Back at Stargate Command...

Jack got out of the chair and headed for the Gateroom where Landry and his Sergeant was going over some computer logs

"Thanks for letting me use your office, you're right I am going to have a fight on my hands getting him back" said Jack. Landry and Walter looked at each other, the couldn't help overhearing some of the heated exchange between the Torchwood head and his former employee,

"If you don't have to hurry off I can arrange for you to join one of my teams who are going aboard the Daedalus to observe tomorrow's battle simulation" Landry said. Jack smiled

"Thanks, I'd like that" he replied

"It'll give you a chance to sort out your problems" Landry said with a look that said I know just what you're going through.

The Next Day...

At 08.00 Jack joined SG-1 as they waited for the Gate dialling sequence to begin. Jack had spent the evening with the team he'd be observing the war games with and had found them to be extremely pleasant company; Colonel Cameron Mitchell had reminded him of what he'd missed about the company of soldiers. Daniel Jackson reminded him a little of Tosh with his enthusiasm for his chosen subject and his ability to keep the peace within the team, Vala Mal Doran was a female version of himself and that scared him witless, her smile was the same, her attitude to life and her recklessness the same, even her flirting with Daniel and Cameron was the same as his. Teal'c was the one who intrigued him the most, the big alien had said little all night, he seemed happy to observe the proceedings, he had an air about him that Jack had seen on only one other being before, the Doctor, Teal'c was old, older than the rest of his team, maybe even as old as Jack and had seen a lot of the same things as he had, Jack could tell from his eyes.

Jack took a step back as the Stargate splashed open

"I can never get enough of that" said Colonel Mitchell as he stepped up onto the ramp "c'mon lets move out, we don't want to keep Colonel Caldwell waiting", Vala linked her arm through Jack's.

"It's a shame this planet is uninhabited, I wanted to take you to Cyranos, there's this little tavern in the village by the gate and they have this drink called Rycorn, and it's effects, well...hey, Daniel" she protested as Dr Jackson grabbed her arm, pulled her away from Jack and started whispering in her ear, Jack continued up the ramp with Teal'c so he missed the look on Vala's face as Daniel's words began to sink in. Vala's eyes widened as the penny dropped

"Oh, that explains everything, I wondered why I was getting nowhere" she folded her arms and sighed as she trudged up the ramp "what a waste" she said.