Author's Notes: Once again, a somewhat easy on the eye and kind of fluffy chapter (I'm saying kind of because I can't write fluff to save my life) and yet just a tad intense to write, especially towards the end. It also came out as a long chapter as well, and I think the next one will be quite long too. I certainly don't complain; I'm hoping that you wouldn't too.

References: The text in the beginning is from Preludes by T. S. Eliot. Jack calling Ianto a nerd is from one of the books – Consequences, most specifically (and the exact quote is:

Ianto: I was always good with books. I was on the Gold colour reading scheme long before the other kids.

Jack: Oh, I bet you were popular. You... nerd.") and I decided to give a bit of a wink to that.

Carlie Roberts, the marine geologist is a Torchwood One employee that had a major role in one of the audio dramas – Submission – and also happened to be in love with Ianto, but that's another story for another day.

So... enjoy and let me know what you think!

I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing

Few things were as good as waking up in an actual bed instead of the cot in his bunker, and one of them was waking up on said bed next to Ianto. His bedroom was just like the rest of the flat – big and full of expensive and, as far as Jack could tell, authentic furniture that made him feel like he was in a mansion in the nineteenth century and not in an apartment in the middle of present day Cardiff. The bed was heaven, though, so he didn't tend to complain.

He quickly registered what had woke him up – he'd wrapped his arms tightly around Ianto and his lover couldn't get to his phone even as he reached as far as he could.

Which happened to be ringing. Jack winced at the sheer volume of it and reluctantly loosened his grip on Ianto without opening his eyes; anything to get the sound to stop. Seconds later, the ringing ceased and there was a sleepy, "Hello?" A pause. "Yeah. I mean, yes. Years ago." Another pause, this time lengthier, and Jack could almost feel Ianto's confusion as well as his unwillingness to keep up the conversation. "No. Not since then. No. Yes, I'm sure." There was an edge to his voice that was usually reserved only for the most disagreeable of people. "Dare I ask why you would want something like that?" This time the pause was shorter and Ianto sounded rather nervous when he spoke again. "Of course not. I'm sorry, sir. Goodbye."

Jack sat up in the bed and reached for Ianto just as his lover dropped his phone on the nightstand.

"Sir?" He murmured, wrapping his arms around Ianto's waist and nuzzling into his neck, eliciting a breathy chuckle from his lover. "And I was starting to feel special for the title."

Ianto snuggled closer into his embrace and dropped his head on Jack's shoulder, and that was enough to bring a smile on the Captain's face. Snuggling wasn't something Ianto did normally – it was undignified, he always said, and he didn't really see the point of it – but if he did do it, that meant that he was in a good mood and – quite probably – still half asleep. "Government officials," he said as if it was supposed to explain everything and Jack pressed him even closer to himself. Ianto was just as cold as usual, but the lack of warmth was worth it for the rare pleasure of not stumbling out of bed and hastily getting ready for work.

"What do government officials want from you at this time of the day?"

Ianto shrugged. "Carter Smith. An old colleague of mine, from Torchwood One. Apparently he's being problematic and they're calling all the survivors to check for him."

"They?"

"MI5."

Jack groaned. "Why do your friends always turn out to be maniacs? I have yet to meet one – including yourself – who hasn't got in trouble with the police. You're a dangerous man to be around."

Ianto snickered. "Look who's talking." He turned around in Jack's arms so he could kiss him and push him back down into a lying position. "We have to get to work," he mumbled, even as his fingers kneaded at Jack's shoulders. The Captain shook his head.

"Not today. Gwen banned us from the Hub, remember?" It had been a long speech about the two of them finally getting a day off and she'd promised to call them if there was an emergency. Jack didn't even want to think what the two of them looked like to make her quite literally throw them out, but it was true that they had been preoccupied with the extra work lately.

"We could sneak in," Ianto suggested and Jack smiled. Even if he occasionally moaned about it, his archivist adored his job and usually had to be dragged out of the Hub forcibly in the wee hours at night.

"No twenty-four-year-old in their right mind is as much of a workaholic as you are," Jack said and Ianto scoffed. "You're not crawling back underground today. I've got plans for you." Ianto only had a second to frown at him before Jack made to get up and make his way out of the room. "And you better ditch the suit," he called over his shoulder. "I can't promise you that it won't get dirty."

o.O.o

And that was how they found themselves in the Central Station, with Ianto scowling at everything around them and occasionally at Jack as well.

"Out of coffee," he huffed as he took a sip from his double hot chocolate. "What kind of a coffee machine is out of coffee?"

"It would have been the third one this morning anyway," Jack offered as a consolation. "It's not good for you."

"Like hell it's not," Ianto snapped. "My blood pressure is always low anyway. And I'm cold."

The first bit was the truth – Jack knew as much from Ianto's medical records and that was probably the only reason why his body would take in as much caffeine daily as it did. The second part, though, was completely Ianto's fault.

He was wearing a pair of old, well-worn combat boots and had stuffed his dark skin tight jeans in them. His black dress shirt looked like satin – something he didn't generally wear with his suits – and he'd paired it with a leather jacket that reached mid-thigh. It was the middle of December.

"What happened to that coat of yours?" Jack asked. "The new one. Blue-whatever-it-was."

"The Burberry one? It wouldn't go with the jeans, and you said no suits. Where the hell are we going, anyway? Have you even got tickets?"

"Of course." He'd arranged them the moment they had decided on the day off. "Our train departs in half an hour."

They were still in the cafeteria, which meant the schedule tables were out of sight. Good, he thought. He wanted to keep it a surprise for a while longer.

o.O.o

"You have got to be joking," Ianto protested as they made their way to their seats. "Jack, what would possess you to think that I want to ever go near that place again?"

"Replace the bad memories with the good," Jack said for the thousandth time. "Besides, have you ever gone sightseeing?"

"Jack, I've lived in London for three years!" Ianto groaned as he sat down opposite of the Captain and crossed his arms. "It's crowded and dirty and there's nothing to see there!"

"You just haven't looked is all," Jack assured and leant in, placing a hand on Ianto's knee. "Come on, let's give it a try. The world won't end if we make a trip outside of town."

"It just might, you know," Ianto said grimly. "Christmas is coming and you know what London is like at this time of the year."

"Most people get away with it without dying."

"Yes," Ianto admitted. "But we're not most people." When Jack just raised an eyebrow, Ianto continued. "Couples do that, Jack. Romantic trips to London and sightseeing are usually the kind of thing that–"

"Oh." Jack looked away from him and Ianto immediately realised what his mistake had been. "London's not the problem, then. It's me."

"That's not what I meant." Ianto could see the argument coming and tried to stop it in its wake, but it was too late. He'd been the one to plant the seed.

"You miss her, don't you?" Jack suddenly looked up and stared him dead in the eye. "London is Lisa's space, and I'm invading it."

"You're not invading anything!" Sometimes Ianto wished he hadn't been given the gift of speech at all. He always managed to say just the thing that would screw everything up. "It's just– it's been a bad place for years. My nightmares all take place in London, because that's there it all happened and–"

"You're afraid to be happy there now," Jack finished for him, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You think it'll manage to spoil it. Ianto, if you give me the chance, I promise I can make it beautiful again." He smiled and Ianto tried to return it, not entirely successfully. "I can make it magnificent. Just let me try."

Ianto was torn between saying that yes, he'd very much like getting off the damn train right now and going home, and actually giving this a chance and then, finally, nodded slowly.

"Okay," he said quietly. "Okay, good. Sightseeing. Let's try."

It was worth it for the way Jack's face lit up and the Captain brought him closer for a kiss just a second later, much to Ianto's dismay.

"People are staring," he mumbled against Jack's lips and felt his lover smile into the kiss.

"Let them." Bloody typical, Ianto thought as Jack doubled his enthusiasm and, despite the slight embarrassment, the younger man didn't break away.

o.O.o

Despite all the protests that there was nothing to see in London, Jack was happy to see that Ianto's enthusiasm had flared up once they were off the train. Jack hadn't visited the city in years – not counting the time when he'd picked up the remnants of Torchwood One after the battle nearly two years ago – so it was as good as new and Ianto turned out to be a pretty good guide. Big Ben, the Warner Bros studios (a rather short visit that was accompanied by Jack groaning and calling Ianto a nerd, which had got the man to be overwhelmed by some incredibly endearing combination of indignation and ashamed acceptance), the Parliament (Ianto had lingered there for an inexplicably long time before Jack had managed to drag him away), and a million other things before they finally got to the London Eye.

Ianto had turned out to be right – the people around them were either families or couples as they got in their cabin and Ianto told him the story of the Eye. Jack couldn't help but smile at the lively, bright creature that usually took over his lover whenever he talked about something he cared about, even if it was something completely mundane – like a Ferris wheel – and he brought the younger man even closer in the confined space so he could press a kiss against his cheek.

And the fact that Ianto just smiled bashfully at him without checking for the reaction of the people around them was the biggest reward of the day.

o.O.o

The way Jack had planned it, they had to be back in Cardiff late this evening, which meant that they had plenty of time to spend – and, when it was all said and done, London didn't have all that much unique sightings and that was how they found themselves in Hyde Park, Ianto telling Jack stories of the office parties they'd had at One. It was a step in the right direction, the Captain thought, that Ianto could speak of the friends of his past life without breaking down.

"...and then Carlie – you know her, UNIT geologist Carlie – told us that we had to all go and tell Yvonne what we've done. How would that have sounded? 'I'm sorry we set the whole B section on fire, Ma'am, it won't happen again'?"

Jack laughed softly. Ianto had been rather weird lately and the change was more than welcome. "So what did you do?"

Ianto's face fell. "Nothing. HR found us out and someone told Yvonne. I was her personal assistant and I was banned out of my own office for a week, and Carlie wasn't allowed to set foot into the laboratories. All in all, it could have ended worse."

Jack had met Carlie Roberts several months back on a submarine in Japan. Ianto had called her and she'd nearly died and, as far as he knew, she worked for UNIT now, and he could imagine her very clearly in the light Ianto had put her in. She's been his best friend – probably still was, actually, even if Ianto hadn't talked to her in months – and that brought Jack to a new revelation.

"So you've had good times here, too," he said and Ianto turned to him, apparently surprised by the change of the topic. "In One. You've had friends and office parties and– there were times when it's all been okay."

Ianto didn't say anything for a few moments and Jack wondered if he'd pushed the topic too far. The last thing he needed now was the man dwelling into thoughts about tragedies long passed, especially when he'd been trying to make the day special and do the whole 'replacing the memories' ceremony. "Yes," he said at last, as if he was only realising it now as well. "Yes, you're right. I did. It had its bad sides, of course, but otherwise? It was pretty good, yeah." Jack just smiled and laced their fingers together. "And, Jack?" He looked up at Ianto to see that he was smiling too; a rather strange look in his eyes. "Thank you."

"What for?"

Ianto gripped his hand even tighter and raised the fingers of his free one for a gentle caress over Jack's cheek. "Just– thank you."

Several hours earlier

Ianto groaned when the shrill ringing of his phone pierced through his brain. He reached for it, but it was too far away and he tried to wriggle away from the death grip Jack held on him. When he finally got it, he frowned against the screen. Blocked number. What the–

"Hello?"

"Hello." The voice was familiar, but Ianto's sleep-heavy brain couldn't force itself to place it. "I'm calling on behalf of the Director of the Security Services. Am I speaking to Ianto Jones?"

"Yeah." Ianto remembered who he was talking to. "I mean, yes."

"And you worked for Torchwood One? Junior researcher and, on a later date, a personal assistant to Mrs Hartman?"

"Years ago," Ianto replied, confused. MI5? Why would they contact him, especially at seven on a bloody Saturday morning?

"And you haven't come in contact with any of the survivors?" Jesus, who did this guy think he was?

"No. Not since then." It wasn't exactly the truth, but Ianto didn't want to involve the several people he'd been talking to in whatever it was that MI5 wanted from him.

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line.

"We've been looking for former Torchwood employees as a recommendation from UNIT and wondered if you'd like to come for an interview. We're looking for recruits."

"No," Ianto cut him off immediately. It wasn't the first time he'd been offered the chance to leave Torchwood for something bigger, but this time, he didn't even have to think about it. All he had to do was feel the way Jack was holding on to him, still mostly asleep, and he knew that it wouldn't be worth it. Nothing would be worth missing this for.

"Are you completely sure that–"

"Yes, I'm sure," Ianto snapped. "Dare I ask why you would want something like that?"

Because really, former Torchwood employees? Who would want that in a secret organisation? The fact that he was having this conversation was enough to show just how secret Torchwood could be.

Now there was an edge to the man's voice as well. "I'm sure you realise that I can't tell you that, Mr Jones."

"Of course not," Ianto said, trying to sound as humble as possible. "I'm sorry, sir. Goodbye."

He felt Jack's arms encircling him like they had while they'd both been still asleep and smiled to himself as Jack posed enquiries for information on his phone call. He knew what his lover would tell him if he were to tell him the truth. It would hurt him, but he'd encourage Ianto to go anyway. He'd always told him that the job he did in Torchwood wasn't all that good, that he could do much better than that, and would have told him to go for it. That he could be big in the Special Services instead of being where he was now – wasting his life (which was most likely going to be a very short one) in Torchwood Cardiff.

So he lied. It wasn't like he wasn't used to it anyway; he tried to stick to the truth when he could but the actual truth was, he lied more often that he'd ever cared to admit. He lied to spare himself or others the pain; he lied to save or destroy people's lives and so he lied now as well. He lied to spare the heartbreak of whom he loved most in the world as he sunk back into Jack's warm embrace and closed his eyes, allowing himself to forget about the world once more.