4.

Tosh is thrilled to see him, eager to hear what happened with the Rift flutter and how he ended up with another Jack on his hands, since of course she tracked down all the CCTV footage in the area and then promptly deleted it. He puts her off to see Jack first, poking his head into Jack's office only to find him on the phone. So Ianto smiles and mouths "Coffee soon?" to which Jack grins, winks, makes a completely inappropriate gesture, and nods; Ianto is not sure if any are for him, or for the person on the phone.

Ianto goes back to Tosh and drags her down to the Archives. He needs to bring her up to date and doesn't want Gwen to overhear anything about another Jack coming through the Rift. Once he's filled her in—and once she's stopped laughing over the idea of two Jacks running around his life and flirting like mad—she agrees to help find a way to get the second Jack back to his own time. She's not sure about keeping their Jack in the dark, but plans to look at the Rift again and see if there are any new predictions for an opening that could send past Jack back to 1977. They head upstairs, where Gwen is now in Jack's office, apparently talking his ear off if the bored look on his face is anything to go by. So Ianto goes to see Owen in the medical bay.

After much moaning, groaning, and several epic eye rolls, Owen agrees to take Jack out for a drink when Ianto cancels their plans. He even more reluctantly agrees to sedate the captain if necessary and will call Ianto if anything goes wrong. Ianto knows this is particularly bad idea, but it's all he can come up with. Even Owen thinks putting two Jacks together is the quickest way to ruin Christmas for all of Cardiff.

Finally heading to the coffee machine, Ianto takes his time brewing two perfect cups of coffee before going to Jack's office. He sits down across from Jack and fills him in on the Rift flutter before chatting casually about the rest of the day and their plans for that night, which Ianto is already feeling terrible about canceling. He sets down his mug and wonders if he should tell Jack everything. Maybe he remembers.

"Have you ever been caught up in the Rift?" he asks after a pause in the conversation. Jack raises an eyebrow.

"Only when you pushed me," Jack replies. Ianto flinches as he remembers the debacle at The Ferret over a year ago, when he'd stood and watched as Jack had been sent through a Rift portal into slavery on an alien planet. Not Ianto's finest moment, and still strange to think that was the first time they'd slept together.

"I didn't push you," Ianto murmurs, and Jack laughs, coming around the desk to stand before him.

"I know," Jack replies. "And you came back for me. But why are you asking? Did something else happen out there today?"

"No," Ianto replies quickly, hoping he doesn't sound guilty. "But I guess it got me thinking, how easily it could have. I ran around the corner and there it was, the Rift wide open. If I'd slipped, I could be anywhere in the galaxy right now. Or any time." As soon as he says it, he realizes it's frightfully true.

Jack frowns, then reaches down to pull him up, holding his hands tight. "And I would do everything in my power to find you and bring you back," he says, surprisingly intense. "But you didn't slip. You're still here, and it's Christmas, so no worrying okay?"

Ianto stares into his eyes before kissing him deeply. He's wanted his Jack since the other tumbled out of the Rift at his feet. This is the man he knows, the one he wants to be with, the man who found his answers and still came back to Earth, to Torchwood, to Ianto. This is the man he wants to spend Christmas with, not a Jack thirty years younger, tired of Cardiff and grieving for a lost child. Ianto decides to make the most of it right then. He wraps his arms around Jack, pulling him closer, beginning the familiar dance of seduction that he'd normally not put on in the middle of the workday, at least not in Jack's office where anyone could walk in. Yet Ianto can't help it; he wants Jack now.

Jack grins against him, apparently feeling his need. "Downstairs?" he murmurs.

"God yes," Ianto replies, already unbuttoning Jack's waistcoat. Jack laughs and pulls him toward the ladder that leads to the tiny bunker below his office.

"Early Christmas present?" he teases, lowering himself into the ground.

"Sure," Ianto says as he lands beside Jack and reaches out for him. "As long as there are more later."

"Oh, there will definitely be more," Jack growls. He slides Ianto's coat to the floor and begins working on Ianto's shirt. Ianto already has Jack's braces down and his belt unbuckled. "You can unwrap me as many times as you like."

Ianto laughs against Jack, reveling in the ridiculousness of it. It strikes him as something that past Jack might have said as well, and he realizes that maybe the two men aren't so different after all. Then he returns his attention to his Jack, and forgets all about the time traveler back at his flat.


Gwen and Tosh are sitting on the sofa when Ianto steps back into the Hub an hour later. They start giggling at the sight of him. Owen glances up and snorts.

"Fix your hair, mate. It's bloody obvious what you've been up to."

Which causes Tosh and Gwen to burst out laughing. Ianto runs a hand through his hair and hurries over to the coffee machine. He fixes Tosh and Gwen each a cup exactly as they like it, then takes them over to the sofa.

"Tosh, can I see you for a moment?"

Owen raises an eyebrow as Tosh follows him away from the others, sipping her coffee and offering her thanks.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asks, and she grins.

"Actually, I have," she replies. "While you were…busy." Ianto is well past blushing, and even if he weren't, it was worth it, so he doesn't. "I checked the Rift program. It's predicting another flutter tonight, as if the one this afternoon needs to be balanced, or corrected."

"In a way, it does. Perfect." Ianto frowns as he thinks of something. "But how do we know it will get him back to his own timeline?"

"I'm still working on that," she sighs. "Maybe when he's here he can help."

"What time's the opening set for?" Ianto asks.

"Sometime around eight o'clock," she says. "So if Jack sends us home by six, but you have an emergency, and Owen takes him out instead, then you sneak back here with the other Jack, we should be all right."

"Tosh." Ianto gives her a very pointed look. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. We're talking about two Jacks and an unpredictable rift in space-time. On Christmas Eve. Something is bound to go wrong."

She shrugs. "I know. I'm trying to be hopeful. I had a nice bottle of wine and a chocolate pie I was saving for tonight."

He pulls her into a hug. "We'll figure it out, somehow. You shouldn't be drinking alone, though."

"It's fine," she says. "Maybe I'll drag Owen along, make him watch a bad Christmas movie with me."

"Oh, that sounds even better." He laughs, and she joins him.

"All right, that's our plan," she says. "I'm going to go check on the Rift again, see if I can't get some better information."

"A location, perhaps?" Ianto suggests.

"I'll try," she replies. "Although it's looking much more difficult to pinpoint than earlier."

"All right, I'm going to…" He pauses, not sure what to do. He needs to get back to his flat, but it's too soon to leave. "I'm going to poke around the archives before heading out. See what I can find out about 1977. Maybe there are hints about this."

"What are you going to tell Jack about tonight?" Tosh asks. "Our Jack…your Jack."

He rolls her eyes at that last and she grins. But then he tries to think of something to tell Jack and realizes he's already used his sister as an excuse, so he's not sure what else there is. "I don't know," he admits. "Any ideas?"

"What did you tell him this afternoon?" she asks, and he explains about the nonexistent chairs and serving pieces. She nods, her face lighting up, then crashing.

"I have an idea, but you probably won't like it," she says quietly.

"Go ahead," he says. "I've got nothing other than begging off sick and making a miraculous recovery once it's all over."

"He'll want to take care of you if you tell him you're sick on Christmas," Tosh replies, shaking her head. "You need something he won't get involved in. So if you lent your sister some of your mum's things earlier, maybe you can tell him you want to go by the cemetery, pay your respects tonight?" She looks uncomfortable suggesting it, and it does make Ianto's chest tighten to be lying about such a thing, but it also makes sense.

"It's all right," he says, patting her arm. "I was planning on going tomorrow anyway, so you're not that far off. And you're right, he probably would respect my wanting to go alone."

"I'm sorry," she says. "It was my first thought. My parents always laid flowers at the holidays."

"It's fine," he insists. "I'll stop and get some flowers, make sure Jack is sober and awake at my flat, then come back here when we get the all clear on Jack and Owen."

"Okay." She throws her arms around him and hugs him hard, and he pats her on the back before stepping back. "What do you mean by sober?" she asks.

Ianto sighs. "Apparently he's going through a rough time. Practically drank himself out of the pub we stopped at after he fell through the rift. I only took him to my flat to get him to stop."

"Poor Jack," she says. "I wonder what was so bad about 1977?"

"The jumpsuits?" Ianto suggests. He certainly can't tell her about Jack's lost daughter; that is Jack's secret alone to share. He's not even sure if he'll tell Jack that he knows. If Jack does not want to share such an intimate detail about his life, Ianto does not want to force his hand.

"I'll let you know if I find anything downstairs," Ianto tells her. "Oh, and…" He takes out his stereo remote, steps on it, and hands her the pieces. "In case he asks."

"It says SONY on it," she points out.

"Maybe it's from another dimension," he replies with a shrug, then heads down to the archives to learn more about 1977 and Jack's role in it.


Two hours later Jack tells everyone to go home for Christmas. Tosh shoots him a text to let him know, so Ianto can clean up his research on 1977—not that he found anything to help them—and head upstairs before Jack tracks him down. He meets Jack on the stairs.

"I sent everyone home early," he says with a smile. "And that includes us!"

"Actually, I was just coming to see you about that," Ianto replies. He takes a breath, hating that he's about to lie. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind pushing our plans back a few hours? There's something I wanted to do beforehand."

"Oh." Jack looks disappointed. "Well, I could come with you?"

Under any other circumstances, Ianto would absolutely want Jack to accompany him. But seeing as he's not really doing what he says he's doing, at least not yet, he shakes his head, hoping he looks reluctant.

"Thanks, but after pulling out my mum's stuff, I want to go by the cemetery. It should only take a few hours to pick up some flowers, drive out there, and get back. If you don't mind?"

Jack shakes his head and pulls Ianto in for a hug. Not a manly embrace, but a smothering hug, complete with a kiss and even some snuggling. "Of course not. You do what you have to do. I'll be here." He pauses and raises an eyebrow. "Unless you want me to go over to your flat and start dinner?"

"No!" Ianto shakes his head and kisses Jack for that, hoping to distract him. "No, but thanks. It's just that I don't know how long I'll be, and I'd rather cook together. I can pick you up on my way back, if that's okay?"

"Of course," says Jack. "Call me when you leave and I'll be ready." He kisses Ianto again, and some nice groping ensues, but then Jack stops and kisses his cheek. "I'm sorry about your mother. I know how hard the holidays can be after you've lost someone."

"Thanks," says Ianto, thinking about how the man back at his flat lost his daughter. "And thanks for being so understanding." He hopes Jack is equally as understanding if something goes wrong. But he tells himself that it'll be fine; his Jack is still here, after all, and hasn't disappeared into some alternate dimension temporal paradox. Owen will talk Jack into going out for a drink, Ianto will bring the other Jack back to the Hub, and as long as Owen can keep the present Jack out of the way until the Rift opens—and Tosh can figure out where it opens and if it will even send the other Jack back to his own time—everything will work out fine, the way history means it to be.

They walk back up to the Hub hand in hand. Ianto grabs his coat, waves at Jack, and heads to the garage where he parked his car. He thinks about stopping for flowers, but it's been several hours, and he's growing worried about the Jack back at his flat. Since nothing's popped up on the news or the various scanning programs they have looking for unusual events, he assumes that the past Jack is still at his flat, and hopes the man hasn't upended his home too much. Then again, it's Jack, so if Ianto drives a little bit faster, he's sure he can flash his Torchwood credentials if he's pulled over.


Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! Next update on Friday, and maybe a new Christmas story soon as well. Taamar challenged me to write about Christmas, Ianto's family, and tentacles. Look for both our takes on it soon!