Chapter Four

By the time Owen arrived with his results, the pizza was nearly gone (which was an impressive feat, considering that Gwen had gone home already, and Tosh had declined in favor of a salad at her desk). Ianto had been about to head back down to the archives to finish his research, having left briefly to tend to Myfanwy's feeding, when Jack called him back to the boardroom.

"I," Owen was telling Jack proudly, "am a genius." Owen nodded to Ianto, who quirked an eyebrow at him curiously. "See, I thought something was a little off with these readings – call it a hunch – and so I went back and did a few more tests."

Jack waved Owen on impatiently.

"Basically, there's something else in here, another component that's off the charts and isn't in any of the previous results. I'm going to need to start more testing, but I'm also going to need a larger sample base. A longer period of time, more areas, so that once I figure out what we're looking at, I can compare results."

Ianto nodded. "It's bound to rain soon, right? I'll collect rainwater and check out that pool. I'll see if Gwen can think of any other locations, too."

Jack smiled at him, a curious expression on his face that, despite not being able to actually identify it, made Ianto's heart skip rapidly. He cleared his throat.

"I'll get started on a log, too," he continued.

"I can do that!" Tosh piped up and all three turned their heads to look at her. "What? I get to play too, right?"

Laughing, Jack nodded. It seemed odd to Ianto that they couldn't work together on something life threatening or apocalyptic, but give them all a banal pet project, and they were seamless. Jack put an arm around him and, instead of shrugging it off, Ianto simply ignored its presence and turned his attention to Toshiko.

"Thanks, Tosh. I appreciate it."

She beamed brilliantly and then turned back to her keyboard. Owen nodded once and then retreated down into his shiny, stainless-steel lair. Jack pulled Ianto closer.

"Finish up here and then we'll go to that pool. And then…." he trailed off with an unusual level of uncertainty.

"Home," Ianto stated, firmly. "I'm exhausted."

He didn't expect Jack's face to relax into a broad grin, not for an answer that implied sleep and nothing else, but that's exactly what happened. He wasn't sure what he had said, but he was glad he said it.

Reenergized as he was from their walk, and the food, and probably just a little from Jack's curious behavior, Ianto's remaining work down in the archives went quickly. He'd made his way through most of the twentieth century in just under an hour. Data from the past forty years, which was haphazardly charted at best, took a little longer, but it wasn't quite dark yet by the time he made his way upstairs.

He was surprised to find everyone still hard at work. Tosh was bent over her keyboard, poking her head up here and there to check the monitors, as a string of numbers flashed across the screen, and he could hear Owen cursing under his breath down in the autopsy room.

He glanced up to Jack's office and was surprised to find Jack watching him oddly. He went up and leaned surreptitiously on the doorframe.

"You were staring at me, sir?"

Jack chuckled as Ianto dug his hands in his pockets and entered.

"No more than usual," Jack said. He pushed back from his desk with a sigh and frowned at a rather large pile of papers on his desk as if they'd personally offended him.

Ianto could see that the ones towards the top of the pile bore the dreaded UNIT letterhead.

Jack shook his head and looked up at Ianto. "It's time to call it a night, I think."

"Right. We should try to get to the pool before dark if we can." He glanced at the clock. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"So long as we don't get caught up in too many distractions this time."

Ianto snorted. "We'll do our best."

"Your best, or my best, because..." Jack was standing now, waggling his eyebrows as he strode over and allowed Ianto to help him into his greatcoat. "In case you haven't noticed, there's a bit of a difference."

He whispered the last words into Ianto's ear, leaning in for a moment before he straightened again. Ianto tried his best not to react. Jack was out the door before Ianto had even realized he'd moved again.

He jogged after him, his shoes clanging on the metal staircase, and stopped directly behind Jack as he was directing the team.

"- take samples from your faucets. Actually, I want all of you to do that. Take some more test strips. Owen, make out a requisition form for more if we're running low and I still need that report from last week's autopsy. Toshiko, I want an update on that database you're creating."

Ianto watched as Jack turned around, and fixed him with his most stoically curious expression, which caused Jack to smile brightly.

"What?" he asked. "It's been slow. I haven't been able to tell anyone what to do for a while now. Anyway. Ianto and I are heading to the pool at Ynysangharad Park where the night travelers were spotted. We'll take some samples there. And then we're going home. Toshiko, normal shut-down procedures before you all leave. I've already rerouted the rift monitor."

Biting back a smile as she nodded, Tosh turned back to her computer. Jack was already halfway to the exit as Ianto collected his thoughts. Jack's support was absolutely appreciated, of course it was, but it felt as though their entire relationship was shifting around them, altering its shape and creating a new space that Ianto wasn't sure how to navigate. Still, he followed him out. He knew how to do that much.

As he was leaving, he heard Tosh whisper under her breath, "So it's home now."

When Ianto got to the car park, Jack was standing by the Audi with a small kit in his hand, like an impatient child. He smiled to himself and approached as silently as he could while Jack stared into the car, as though willing the doors to open themselves.

It was cloudy outside and, for perhaps the first time in his life, Ianto wanted it to rain more than anything. Then they could sneak out in the night, vials at the ready, and take as many samples as they could carry. They'd get wet, of course, soaked, the water trailing Jack's face and down his neck, dripping off his hair, pooling at his upper lip, and…

Jack turned around and smiled at him, soft and welcoming, and so Ianto pushed him back against the car and kissed him.

Jack kissed him back, of course, and for a long moment that was all that mattered. Jack's lips, eager and encouraging, and Jack's mouth, warm and inviting. It was Jack, and it was normal, and they were going home later, and Jack had mentioned it to the team like it was nothing, like it wasn't a thing at all, like it was just something they did. Like Gwen going home to Rhys every night.

It sent an odd shiver down his spine, thinking of it like that. Jack tugged against the folds of his jacket to bring him closer and his hands moved along Ianto's jaw to steady him. Jack deepened the kiss for a moment before he leaned back to study Ianto, as if them kissing out here wasn't the fairly regular occurrence that it was, as if something about the whole thing had surprised him, and he was only just now figuring out what it was.

His eyes were bright and clear and then he leaned forward and kissed Ianto's forehead and Ianto was sure it was ridiculous how much the gesture made his stomach twist and turn. He let out a quick laugh. He was expecting Jack to frown at him, and ask him what the hell was so funny, but he didn't. He just let out a little laugh of his own. Then he raised his eyebrows, and gestured over to the driver's door, while at the same time tugging Ianto a little closer by the waist.

"You want to drive?"

"It is my car," Ianto told Jack, but stayed right where he was, as if somehow rooted to the spot.

"Still..."

"We should-" they both started, almost in unison, and then laughed. Jack shook his head and stared at him until finally Ianto sighed, and took a step back.

"We should get to work," he said, trying to sound professional, though he wasn't sure if he'd quite succeeded.

"You sound disappointed." Jack took a step back.

Ianto crossed in front of the car and was about to open the door when he looked over at Jack, and then shrugged. "We'll have plenty of time later." He regretted it almost immediately at the look on Jack's face, which made him flush with color before he could stop himself.

Jack just grinned. "Of course we will," he said. "I'll make sure of it."

Ianto snorted and rolled his eyes, though he was smiling back. "I'm sure you will." He opened the door and got in, aware that Jack was climbing into the car as well, sweeping in with a flash of grey-and-tan and the slam of the door.

After turning the key in the ignition, Ianto released the handbrake and shifted gears. He backed his car out of the spot, his arm around the back of Jack's headrest as he looked out his rear windshield.

Jack placed a hand on Ianto's thigh, just above his knee, as Ianto drove. Lisa used to do that, and while he loved her, the possessiveness of the gesture had made him anxious and uncomfortable. Still, he'd never asked her to remove it. But Jack's hand was warm, reassuring – it felt like a physical manifestation of his support, like he was being steadied and guided.

He stopped at an intersection and looked over at Jack. He was staring out the window, perhaps at the people walking in and out of shops, or at the cars parked along the side of the road, or the patient dog tied to the leg of a café table. Jack's hand squeezed his thigh and Ianto smiled.

"So," Ianto said as the light changed and he began to drive again. "Final decision. Flat or pool?"

It was, he considered, a loaded question. Banality or adventure? A night of normalcy, or Torchwood? A cou – whatever they were, or protectors of the earth?

Jack gave a half shrug, his hand still resting on Ianto's grey wool trousers. "You're driving," he said and smiled, relaxed in his seat. "I go where you take me."

Ianto froze and then chuckled softly at the way Jack's answer aligned with his own private musings. Out of the corner of his eye, Ianto saw Jack flash him a curious look, which made him laugh outright. "Sorry," he apologized breathlessly. "Sorry. It's just – you – I…."

"Yes?" Jack asked, and Ianto could hear the smile in his voice, the barely restrained laughter like it was infectious, like Jack was just waiting for an excuse to let it out.

"Nothing, nothing." He took a deep breath. "Sorry. I was just thinking of something. It was stupid."

"You don't do stupid, Ianto. What? Tell me."

There was that damn smile again, curling the edges of Jack's voice pleasurably. "What are we?" he blurted and then snapped his mouth shut, opened it again, closed it, and sighed. It was too late. The words were already out in the air, floating between them.

To Ianto's great surprise, Jack was still smiling. He wasn't answering the question, but still...it was something. Jack was sitting there grinning to himself as if somehow he just couldn't contain the pleasure this question had provided. Ianto kept his eyes on the road, and gave his best attempt to rescind it all the same.

"Never mind, Jack," he said, and watched the grin slide from Jack's face. "I don't think I want to know. Keep up the mystery and all that, right?"

"Ianto," Jack said, and his voice was heavy, weighted as he moved his hand from Ianto's thigh to rest on his own lap, his fingers curled taut, like he wasn't sure what to do with them. "What doyouthink we are?" he asked, and to Ianto's ears it sounded like an honest question, as if Jack really, truly wanted to know.

"I... well," Ianto started, and pressed his foot on the gas a bit, because there was someone behind them, someone he had likely been making quite impatient as he crept along at well under the speed limit, oblivious.

He sighed, stalling, and then Jack sighed, right before he ordered him to pull over. Ianto blinked at him, confused.

"I said, pull over. Now."

Ianto did his best to comply, even though they weren't even out of the city yet, and of course, it wasn't as if Duke Street would be able to accommodate them with a convenient lay-by. Maybe Jack was planning on conjuring one for him, he thought idly. It seemed like the sort of thing he'd be good at, in any case.

Ianto rolled his eyes at the blare of a horn as he tried to get as far over to the shoulder as he could. After they'd jerked to a rather ungainly stop, Jack reached over him to switch on the hazards.

"Jack?" Ianto asked. "Look, I'm sorry I said anything. It's not important," he told him. "You know that's not important to me."

"What's not?"

Ianto stared at Jack, who stared straight back at him, barely blinking.

"Putting a label on things," Ianto said finally. He glanced in the rearview mirror nervously. "I'm going to get a ticket sitting here like this," he told Jack, shaking his head.

"You're wrong," Jack said a second later, and Ianto couldn't tell if he was angry, or annoyed, or offended, or about a million other things that may or may not have been flashing in his eyes. "This isn't about putting a label on us."

"Oh?"

"It's about you."

"Me?" Ianto echoed. He checked the mirror again because, really, the last thing he needed was some PC friend of Gwen's to swing by while he and Jack were having a domestic.

"Yeah, you. Who else?" Jack smiled, or tried to, and the shallowness of it made Ianto nervous.

"What about me?"

Jack reached over and turned the radio on. Some bit of classical music was playing, and he turned the volume down slightly. Ianto felt like he was in a movie; soon the rain would fall and then…something would happen. But he didn't know the lines, so he just looked at Jack.

"What's that for?" he asked.

Jack shrugged, facing forward. "Helps me think. You know we only ever really talk when we're in a car?"

"Yeah," Ianto replied after considering it for a moment. "You're right. But what about me, Jack?"

"I don't know how to navigate you. I don't know how to navigate this."

It wasn't raining yet, but the crescendo came all the same. If it was a movie, the timing was poor.

"I've been waiting for you to ask for over a month now," Jack continued quietly. "Why does this have to be a mystery?"

"We're really rubbish at this, aren't we?" Ianto scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed. "Do you want me to tell you what I want?"

Jack nodded, enthusiastically, hopefully, and Ianto's heart sank.

"Too bad," he said, "because I have no idea what I want. Some days I think it'd be so much easier if things went back to the way they were, back to when none of this meant anything, and then you're gone for a day, a weekend, and I spend my time wishing you'd come back early. Sometimes, I blink and you're making dinner, humming to yourself, smiling, and I just want that to stop surprising me. I want to be able to expect that, to have that be boring and not the most exciting thing that's happened to me all week."

Ianto let out a breath after he finished. He'd been staring out the front windshield at the passing traffic as he spoke and he hazarded a glance to his left. Jack was staring straight ahead, his mouth quirked up just slightly, like Ianto had said the right thing for once.

Jack must've felt Ianto staring, because he turned and looked at him for a moment before grabbing a fistful of Ianto's shirt and tie and pulling him forward until their lips almost touched.

"You know what I want, Ianto Jones?" he whispered.

Ianto swallowed once, convulsively, and shook his head.

"I want that to neverstop being the most exciting thing that's happened to you all week."

It began to rain as Jack crushed their mouths together.

When Ianto's brain finally managed to find its way back online, he remembered that they had been waiting for it to rain, and that the fact that it was raining was a very good thing.

He also remembered that they were parked in the middle of the road on a major street and were most definitely going to get a ticket or worse if they stayed here much longer. The rain wasn't exactly helping, either. A large vehicle swished around them and the Audi shuddered a little in its wake. Jack's lips were still pressed up against his, and Ianto marveled at the wonderful weirdness of it for a moment, and then another, just for good measure, before he finally pulled away.

"We need to move," he told Jack, somewhat apologetically, as he shifted back into his seat. Then he paused.

There were a lot of things rattling around in his brain; it made it hard to focus. If they did this enough, maybe these half-formed thoughts would start to make some kind of sense to both of them. Maybe these conversations would hold – they'd stick, and they'd gel into something for them to fall back on, later. They were both so bad at this, and Ianto knew that, but he still couldn't help but feel like this was some sort of progress. It felt like progress, anyway.

The rain was picking up steam outside. He switched on the wipers and watched the world turn a little less blurry. He turned to Jack.

"Want to go home? Make dinner, maybe head out to the pool later on?"

His voice was nervous, breathless, and he had no idea why. But he knew he was tired of holding back. Maybe he'd been tired of holding back for a very, very long time. Just this once, he wanted to leave it. The rift alerts and the weevils and the samples - all of it.

The thought terrified him. But it also felt like the best idea he'd had in days.