Alex was sad to find out that Suzie had given into the corruption of the glove and that she had resorted to killing herself. But he wasn't sure about the new girl Gwen Cooper, she was aggressive (abrasively so), had a holier than thou attitude (that Jack almost encouraged), she gave him weird looks like he was a nut case, and on top of all of that she wanted to get into Jack's pants despite supposedly being in a committed loving relationship.

"She looks at me funny," Alex complained nearly a month into having to work with Gwen..

"Owen looks at you funny," Ianto pointed out.

"No Owen looks funny," Alex pouted fiddling with Monkey's making the little creature growl at him petulantly.

Ianto chuckled, "Fine point."

"I don't like how she treats us like savages she needs to lead into society," Alex continued, he had hoped after the Carys incident when she made an arse of herself she would chill out but alas, "We're working out of a high tech underground facility not a cave."

Ianto nodded in agreement (but Alex suspected he was just humoring him).

"And Jack pretty much eggs her on by encouraging her to feel important, and I'm not saying she's not important, but you're important too so she needs to get over herself," Alex huffed.

Ianto blinked surprised, "She is a field agent and I'm a archivist, it's normal for her to feel more important."

"It's average and wrong," Alex corrected, "If anything you're more important because where would she be without your research."

"What are you kids talking about?" Jack asked sauntering in grinning.

"Politics and self-important cats incapable of grasping canary catching etiquette," Alex bit out cuddling Monkey to his chest and somehow managing to lay down and curl up on the small counter.

"Are you alright?" Ianto asked concerned reaching out to him.

"M'fine," Alex mumbled edging away from the hand hovering over his back, "Jack I finished all my work can I go home early?"

"Sure," Jack confirmed frowning.

"Cool, bye Yan," Alex slurred handing him Monkey and wobbled past Jack and disappeared through the door.

"Do you know what that was about?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No idea," Ianto replied frowning. He resolved to stop by Alex's flat to check on him after work.

Alex wasn't at his flat that night when Ianto went over and he called in sick the next day. But when he showed up the day after he looked more relaxed and livelier than he had in weeks.

"Hi Yan," Alex chirped bouncing in with Monkey clinging to his shoulder.

"Hey, where were you yesterday," Ianto asked, "I stopped by to check on you but you were no where to be found."

"Oh, I was sick so Ethan kidnapped me and took me to his house for some rest and relaxation," Alex explained cheerfully.

"You're alright now though," Ianto frowned.

"Yep," Alex twirled to prove it, "100%!"

"Good," Ianto said relaxing.

"Well I'm gonna go get to work. Thanks for worrying about me Yan, I'll see you later," Alex grinned and dashed out of the room, Monkey curled around his neck.

~*We're skipping over Ghost Machine because nothing plot worthy happens*~

Things got a little strained after that, Alex seemed to be sick more and more often and when he wasn't he was still tired. The team was closer in some ways, Owen, Gwen, Jack, and Tosh went out for drinks and messed around the Hub but Alex was more distant and Ianto was just absent, to the point it was like they didn't notice he was gone or when he was there. Alex made an effort to spend time with Ianto but more often than not neither of them were in the mood to do anything more strenuous than curl up together on Alex's bed after a long day.

What made it more difficult for Alex was Gwen, he hated how she looked at and talked to him, she treated him like a naive child in need of patronizing, it was exhausting to be around her so he avoided any situation she was involved in (further alienating himself from the group who seemed to flock to her). Owen worries him more than Gwen annoys him, Owen seemed a bit to trigger happy especially with Ed Morgan (though Alex could sympathizes there) Alex still worried that the ghost machine might have a last effect on him.

On top of all of that Alex was worried about Ianto, he had been hiding things more intensely then usual, he was tense and nervous and he was staying late at work almost every night. Alex was on the verge of an intervention when it happened.

He was returning from another bout of sickness when he found out what happened.

Alex had just gotten back into town so he decided to stop by work and see what damage they had done to the SUV in his absence, the Hub was empty except for a stony faced Ianto cleaning trash. Alex started over to him to see what was wrong but he glanced up and saw Gwen and Jack looking down at Ianto just as stony and cold so he decided to detour to them (Ianto didn't look in the mood to talk).

"What's wrong with everyone?" he asked as soon as he entered Jack's office.

Jack and Gwen exchanged a glance before Gwen spoke.

"We had an...incident while you were away," she started in her kindergarten teacher voice.

"Cut the crap and tell what's wrong," Alex said bluntly (and a bit harshly).

"Ianto was hiding a cyberwoman in the basement," Jack replied just as bluntly.

Alex jerked back and his eyes shot to Ianto, he had heard about Cybermen when he found out Ianto used to work for Torchwood London. The Battle of Canary Warf they called it, Cybermen slaughtering people mercilessly. And Ianto had been hiding one?

"It escaped the basement and tried to get out of the Hub but we managed to contain it but only after it killed two people," Jack said with a hint of bitterness.

"Why would he hide one? He was at Torchwood London during the battle, I thought he hated Cybermen," Alex was so confused and conflicted, this didn't sound like Ianto.

"It was his girlfriend," Gwen cut in quickly, "she was there too and she was captured by the Cybermen and converted... well mostly. She still looked mostly human but she had the mind set of one of them wanting to convert everyone. Ianto was trying to save her but she was to far gone, we had to put her down."
Alex felt a spark of affection towards Gwen in that moment, he could tell in that she understood Ianto and wanted him to understand too.

"He loved her," he whispered thinking back to all those time Ianto had cut off a sentence or started to shake when they talked, he was trying to stop himself from telling him about the most important person in his life to protect her.

"You knew about it?" Jack asked sharply eyes glinting dangerously.

"No, not specifically," Alex said glaring back at him, "I knew he was hiding something but I didn't know what and I didn't know it was an actual thing," he added was Jack started to look furious, "We all have secrets, things we don't like to talk about, I thought it was a bad memory, Ianto always looked pained and panicked when he got close to saying anything about it so I always stopped him before he could."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have and this could have been avoided," Jack nearly growled.

"Jack!" Gwen protested.

But Alex ignored him, looking back to Ianto, "Why is he here? Why is he working?"

"I decided to give him a second chance," Jack said as if it was some great gift (in some ways maybe but not with that tone).

Alex looked at him sharply, "Yes that's very nice but why is he working now? Didn't this just happen?"

Jack looked confused, so did Gwen but she nodded confirming the timeline of events.

"And your letting him work?!" Alex exclaimed getting angrier by the second.

"I gave him a second chance..." Jack started but Alex cut him off.

"He just lost the woman he loves and your letting him work!?" Alex wanted to scream and pull his hair out and by the horrified look coming into Gwen's eyes she was starting to see the folly in their decision now, "He should be home mourning and getting himself together not cleaning up your shit! I'm taking him home."

With that declaration he turned on his heels, ignoring Jack's protests (Gwen shushed him endearing herself more to Alex by the second). Alex stomped down the stairs just to further illustrate his displeasure at Jack's lack of common sense, then walked slowly and evenly over to Ianto to avoid startling him.

"Hey Yan," he said gently once he was within touching distance.

Ianto stiffened and hesitantly looked up at him eyes were red rimmed guarded, "Hello," he said formally though his voice was hoarse from crying.

Alex's eyes softened and he offered Ianto his hand, "Come on Yan let's get out of here."

Ianto stared at his hand for a minute looking like a confused child so Alex slipped it around Ianto's and carefully twined their fingers before giving a light tug. Ianto's face crumbled he looked ready to burst into tears eyes squeezing shut to stop it. Alex pulled him along, Ianto stumbling obediently after him still fighting back tears.
They managed to make it back to Alex's flat before Ianto finally broke and the tears came with rib breaking sobs. Alex lead him to the same guestroom they had collapsed into that first night and gently undressed Ianto and himself, he pushed Ianto back in the bed before climbing in next to him and let the other man cry into his chest.

Ianto choked out the whole story, whispering and shouting and garbling the words into his shirt until they ran out and Ianto was left a puddle of misery clinging to him desperately for any comfort. Alex lay there listening and brushing his fingers through his hair and pressing kisses to his temples and forehead, trying to squeeze as much comfort as humanly possible into each caress.

Ianto eventually cried himself into an exhausted sleep and Alex lay awake heart breaking as even in his sleep tears leaked out of Ianto's swollen eyes merging with the rest in Alex's soaked shirt. It was a very long time before Alex finally collapsed into a restless sleep, to torn to find any true rest in it.

Alex ended up calling in for him and Ianto for the next two days. Jack tried to throw a fit about it so Alex just hung up on him and shut of both his and Ianto's phones.

They spent to the first day just laying in bed absorbing each others warmth, the second day Alex disentangled himself from Ianto while he slept and took a shower then went to the corner grocery store. Ianto was still asleep when he got back so he went straight to the kitchen and started making breakfast. He made scones first and and got them baking before waking Ianto up and coaxing him into the shower so he could strip the bed. He dropped clean clothes in the bathroom then headed back to the kitchen to fry some sausages, he popped back into the bedroom and bathroom to collect the dirty clothes and bed sheets to toss in the laundry, he managed to get them started washing and then back to the kitchen before the sausage could burn. He made waffles and eggs and by the time it was all on the table Ianto was just finishing his shower.

"Time to eat," Alex prompted when Ianto came into the room.

"I'm not hungry," Ianto croaked.

"I'm sure you're not but I need you to try and eat anyway," Alex encouraged handing him a glass of orange juice to wet his dry throat then placed a plate with a modest portion of everything in front of him.

Ianto didn't argue, he slowly but surely emptied his plate. Alex was starving so he finished off his fair share of the food. When they were both done he put the leftovers in the fridge and cleaned up the kitchen then he dragged Ianto into the living room and they curled up on the couch, Alex reading an old book Ethan gave him on mythology while Ianto stared off into space.

They had a small dinner that night and Ianto was calmer but when they lay down again in the fresh sheets he still cried himself to sleep. Alex did his best not to do the same.

It was an easy routine getting up the next morning and dressing for work. It was normal, it was like any other day, it was the calmest and most comfortable either of them had felt in weeks. Work was just as uneventful. Except for a few pitying (Gwen and Tosh) and suspicious (Owen) glances it was just another day. Ianto made Alex a special coffee (his way of saying thank you with out breaking their silent agreement that none was needed) and Alex spent all of his free time draped over the nearest piece of furniture chatting with him (his silent way of saying your welcome and forgiven).

The most remarkable thing that happened was Jack giving a intense staring nod thing to which Alex raised an eyebrow and burst into laughter earning himself a fond smile from Ianto and confused looks from the others. Alex was to bubbly with sudden energy to care about anything more than twirling around Ianto giggling until Ianto finally gave in and let out a chuckle of his own.

Alex felt very pleased with his ability to confuse and amuse.

~*To Be Continued*~