"There isn't much to tell. I gave him a piece of mind, it was as simple as that!"

Gwen's eyebrow's caught him across from the Hub entrance.

"Making trouble then, John?"

"Yes." Toby's face grinned with impish importance.

"No. A cop just tried to tell me where I couldn't park. Oh, sorry Gwen, a pc told me where I couldn't park."

"So, I guess you told them you were with us?"

John's eyes met Jack, arms folding and leaning against the door frame to his office. "I figured it wouldn't be so bad. After all, you have Torchwood painted across the blooming side of your SUV. I wouldn't say that screams tact."

"That's Jack for you. Always with flair. I remember one time..." Jack's cough caught Ianto's voice before he spilled a little too much.

"Well, you can't just bully the pcs around here. We need to work with them."

"That's a flip, Jack. I'd expect something like that from Gwen."

"He's a work in progress. I only had to think it that time."

Jack grunted as he moved back into his office, shutting his door. Out of the corner of his eye, John watched Ianto retrieve a light cream coffee cup and put Jack's brew within. He moved towards the coffee maker in silence as Ianto worked diligently, with all the romance of a concerto conductor.

"Not to interrupt or anything, but I believe that the Captain and I need some words. May I use your coffee as an alibi?"

"Anyone else would get a no."

"Including Gwen?"

"Most emphatically."

"Promise I won't take him from you."

"I've no fear from it."

"That's good. You're a good man, Ianto Jones."

"I know." Ianto smirked as he handed the coffee mug to John and John smiled warmly back. As he mounted the stairs, a slight fog enveloped through his chest. It wasn't quite fear, a bit more like hesitation but there was this mixture of uncertainty that John had trouble identifying.

There was a slight harshness stemming from the fact that the blinds were open when Jack allowed John's entrance. Jack was fiddling, as its best described, with a sharpened pencil between his fingers, a small mound of paperwork beneath them.

"I'm beginning to think you're a workaholic, Captain Harkness." The response was an annoyed stare. "Not good enough? Okay, how about this? Gee, Jack, I never thought Ianto would rub off on you in that way."

Jack raised his hand in the air. "Just stop, John. It's not worth the effort."

"And this is grade-A material too."

"I'm sure it is. Did Darius leave you with no seriousness at all?"

"And I was wondering if Owen left you without the ability to be anything but."

"That's not fair."

"Oh, come off it Jack. We both know some thing's been bothering you."

Jack took a sip of hot coffee and John noticed his glare beginning to soften. "It's your attitude."

"And what is wrong with my attitude? Would you prefer suffering, cryptic John to me?"

"You're slightly more cavalier than I remember."

"Isn't that the rogue pot calling the avenging kettle black?"

"I've grown. I just don't want to see your team get hurt. You're responsible for them."

"And you don't think I don't know that? Look, Jack, you know the risks of this life as well as I!"

"But do they? Look at them. All the fun and the dating and jokes. It's all a mask."

"A damn necessary mask, Jack. If you don't think I go through my day without worrying if they'll be killed at least half a dozen times then you'd be wrong. But they found me, not the other way around. I didn't post an ad looking for sarcastic, suicidal loonies with a taste for adventure and mysterious circumstances. Mostly because they charge by the letter in Italian papers."

Jack said nothing in return, just stared through his own reflection as he walked toward the window. John followed his gaze from Gwen to Ianto and then back again. "It hurt then, didn't it?"

"More than losing the Doctor or Rose did."

"Ouch."

"That's why I want you to go, disband your team. I'll give you all the retcon you need. We'll find you a job and a normal life somewhere."

John smiled, half aghast and half amused. "Do you think I want a normal life, Jack? Think I could handle that? The problems began to find me even before I knew there were things to go searching after. What happened to turn you into this, Jack?"

"I could lose them."

"You could."

"I can't replace them."

"You'll have to."

"I don't want to."

"It's not about want, Jack. I remember the night before the Gentleman attacked the Hub. Do you remember what you sang to me? Do you even remember the other parts of that song, Jack?"

Jack said nothing, the corners of his mouth turned inward hard to avoid another bout of fresh tears. "You're afraid of being alive, of losing him."

"I'll lose him eventually."

"You'll lose me, too. But you don't offer them a way out, why?"

"Because we both know I'd go searching for them."

"You protect them, Jack. But you can't let them go, even knowing all that you do. It is like

Someone you have to let in

Someone who'll force you to share

Someone who like it or not

Will always be there

A little, a lot.

Sorry I had to sing that at you."

"You've got a good voice for it, though."

"Jack, Ianto chooses what he does on a daily basis. Gwen, well, she has Rhys to keep her more grounded, but she still comes here everyday and follows you."

"She chose not to and it sent me away once."

"And you're going to tell me you never made irreparable mistakes?"

"I didn't say that."

"I'd hope not. I'd have to drop my drink all over all these papers if you did. That's how you'll know I'm calling you a liar."

Jack looked at John, their eyes locked. "Do you know what you've gotten us involved in?"

"No."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"No, you're afraid that I'm right."

"Touche."

John squeezed Jack's arm as he moved back toward the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, the day's research is done and I've promised this girl I know a proper movie night."

As close to normal as we get, that's what John thought. The lights in the Hub had been dimmed and Ianto had made a tactful beeline for Jack when Nicoletta showed him the ice cream, popcorn and rented movie for the evening. No matter what the case or the stakes, Nicoletta and John spent one night a week together recharging their batteries. Often, they ended up using the Jeep's portable DVD system, but tonight they were in the Hub.

Nicoletta's hands dipped into the popcorn every few minutes and nibbled away while John tried to abstain from hovering it in altogether. Her hair was splayed against his chest and her left ear would have heard his heartbeat had she been able to. She giggled throughout the first half of the movie and John tried very much not to love her. It was hard not to love her.

She caught him staring once or twice. And her eyes were caught between being amused and understanding. He wished he could tell her that he wanted to kiss her. He wish they could watch movies without captions. Well, not that it mattered what he wished. It was all fleeting, these wishes. But with her salty hand in his buttery hand, both from their favorite side of the popcorn bag, they smiled and settled in for the night.

John almost leapt up, startled. She was beginning to drowse and would most likely not want to see the ship go down anyways. Jack and Rose had just finished dinner and Jack was examining the gem. But something in John's being pulled him to that gem. He placed her head on the couch and she smiled. John began to pretend he was merely sliding to the floor. She slept and he made a phone call to Xander, whom, John suspected, didn't sleep at all.

By the time Jack and Ianto arrived the next morning, power to the lights and the computers were all moving and she was clicking away. Xander was feeding him bits of information as Peter and Toby ran errands. John was at the epicenter, babbling away to Xander on his cell phone. Gwen entered shortly after and leaned over Nicoletta's chair as rapid-pace technology went to work on a section of yellow parchment from the damning prophecy Torchwood Four was trying to unravel.

"You use so much of our technology that we might need to merge teams, John."

John wasn't paying much attention at the moment. "Look at this, Jack!" He shoved a printout at the Captain and then began walking about the room excitedly, hands flying around and Nicoletta trying to keep her eyes peeled to her screen. She never quite got used to that side of John's personality.

"I always knew that movie was a classic for a reason."

"That's not what I'm saying at all, Gwen!"

"Well, share with the class then."

"Ianto! This is the final piece of the puzzle! Maybe, for now, one last clue to worry about!" Ianto received the pages from Jack and the younger man began to scrutinize them intensely, taking a few seconds between paragraphs to look from John back to the printouts.

"Let's not get too excited, John. Remember, vampires don't breathe, so it's not like air could stop them from getting to a sunk ship."

"That's true, Jack, but you forget about the water pressure at that depth. It would crush their skulls like cans of ale."

"What Ianto said!"

"I say we get excited though." Peter walked through the rolling door confidently, holding various sheets of paper and a conspicuous book in his hand.

"I thought you were down in the archives."

"So, I misspoke about that. What I actually was doing was some recon."

John's eyebrows curved upwards as he took the leaflets. "Well, I don't approve of going without back-up. But this should be enough. Looks like we've only got two to worry about at the moment."

"And Dempsey is sure to have the second."

"She could lead us to him."

"That's what I'm thinking. And you know he's going to have to..."

Peter placed his hand before John's face. "Just stop. We both know you'll protect him. I'll just make a run for supplies before hand."

"Did you stop him before he gave you the speech?"

"You'll be glad to know I did, Xan. You'd be proud of me."

"Only after I get you to babble..."

"Fellas!" Gwen's voice echoed off the walls of the Hub, causing all noise to cease, save for the printer and Myfanwy. "Mind filling the rest of the world in on your plan?"

John and Peter grinned like wild cats who had just found a fish in a trash can. "Evantasol."

C/N: The song is some lines from "Being Alive" and I don't own it. Unfortunately. If you remember the last time (from the cells), Jack was singing the chorus to John and I thought it fitting. You do remember that, don't you?