CHILD IN TIME PART IV

Ianto stared at his reflection strangely fascinated by the 11 year old face that confronted him in the glass. He was all sharp angles under a shock of curly hair that for some unknown reason had gone through a sudden growth spurt along with the rest of his body. It was unsettling to see himself like this and memories he'd rather have kept buried came flooding back as he looked at himself. Ianto's hand absently strayed to his cheek where in the past he'd been struck on many occasion by the back of his father's hand. It was hard to hold back tears and finally, once again Ianto gave into them, cursing his own weakness as he did so. It was really all he could do, short of punching his bathroom mirror into oblivion. Ianto didn't want to damage his hand or deal with the mess.

In truth he was still smarting from the bollocking he had received from both Jack and Owen over leaving the Hub alone, even though it had probably saved his life. Ianto huffed a sigh and turned away from the all too seeing glass. He wiped the evidence of his emotional display from his cheeks and straightened his back, ram rod style.

He found Jack in his bedroom and Ianto chose to ignore the invasion of his privacy because underneath his frustrations he knew that Jack was worried and Ianto was very grateful for that.

"I fed your cats." Jack ventured and Ianto could only smile at the slightly nervous edge to his voice.

"Thank you, sir." Ianto's own voice was still unbroken but stronger than it had been before the latest 'episode' of growth. Ianto had dressed in jeans and T-shirt that Tosh had bought for him the day before. They fit thankfully and Ianto was happy with her choices. He vaguely wondered what the final clothing bill would be once all this was finished. Owen's and Tosh's extensive testing had revealed nothing useful and the lack of information about how all this was going to pan out was worrying Ianto more than he cared to admit.

At least he wasn't so short now.

"I need a hair cut." He groused yanking a navy blue hoodie on over his head. He faced Jack who was smiling at him.

"If you say cute in your next sentence I will not be held accountable for my actions, sir."

Jack raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, you got me. Are you ready now?"

Ianto nodded, relieved in more ways than he could imagine for not being quite so short anymore, he hated being short. He wondered how short people coped in the world. He turned to face Jack properly and was brought to a halt by the look on the older man's face. It was an expression that Ianto did not quite understand, a faint smile was there and underlying deep sadness in those ever so blue eyes.

"Sir? Are you alright?"

Jack appeared to shake himself out of it, as if caught off guard but the smile widened into something warm and sincere.

"I'm fine Ianto, thank you. Come on, the Hub awaits."

Ianto nodded, but was shocked when Jack stepped forward and engulfed him in a crushing embrace. Automatically he melted into it, thankful for the comfort he hadn't realised he needed. Perhaps Jack had seen the tears earlier.

"I'm sorry Ianto." It was mumbled into his hair.

Ianto considered what Jack could possibly be sorry about and Ianto found himself smiling, perhaps this was forgiveness on both their parts for everything that had happened over the last few months.

"I know you are Jack. I am too. This is not your fault though. It's Torchwood. It takes us and breaks us down and rebuilds us into better people. If we survive it."

Jack squeezed a little tighter.

"You shouldn't know so much, you're so young Ianto."

"We all are sir, and I wouldn't be much use as an archivist if I didn't know every thing." Ianto breathed deeply. "We are all broken, but we all chose this life Jack. This is the only life I can function in now because out there the real world just doesn't understand, can't understand." He was comforted by the rough wool of Jack's coat, the scent of him. "It's fine sir. The real world is lonely and empty and it would just reject us."

"And this world doesn't?"

"In this insane, dangerous world we have each other. We rely on each other to live."

Ianto was eased back by strong hands around his shoulders, encouraging him to step back a pace. He met Jack's earnest gaze with one of his own.

"You're a good man Ianto Jones."

"And so are you, Captain Jack Harkness, and don't you forget it. In fact hold on to it."

They both smiled as Ianto awkwardly extricated himself from Jack's hold and looked down at himself.

"I shall be glad when I can get back into a suit."

Jack arched an eyebrow but kept his naughty comment to himself for once, it was time to be the Captain again.

"Guess we'd better get going."

The moment, whatever it was, was over.

"Yes sir."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Ianto trailed behind Jack into the main work area of the Hub, the cog door noisily announcing their arrival causing Gwen to look up from her work and offer up a brief smile. Jack grinned back and then stopped, swinging round to face Ianto.

"Coffee?"

Ianto rolled his eyes and Gwen could only smile more, some things never changed.

"Of course, Gwen?"

It just sounded wrong coming from a pre-teen mouth. "Please Ianto."

Ianto wandered off in the direction of his kitchen area and Gwen got off her chair and followed Jack into his office and unsubtly closed the door behind her so as to speak to him in private. She stood poised, hands on hips with a determined look on her face. Jack got the feeling she was spoiling for an argument and found himself wondering what he had done wrong this time. He sat down behind his desk and she took the seat in front of it.

"How can I help you?" He cringed inwardly at his own patronising tone, but couldn't help himself as his good mood slid down into his boots.

Gwen sat back her arms folded somewhat defensively across her chest. "What are we going to do about Ianto?"

Jack frowned, that was not the question he was expecting. "What do you mean?"

There was a tap on the door and 'young' Ianto stepped in, a tray balanced in his hand with two mugs of coffee on it. The tray didn't waver as he moved into the room and deftly placed the mugs down on Jack's desk. Jack smiled warmly at him in thanks and Gwen smiled too.

"Thanks Ianto." They chorused

They watched him leave and close the door at his back and Gwen heaved out a long sigh and slumped back in her seat.

"I'm worried about him Jack. He was quiet before, especially after that episode with Lisa. This is so soon after all that and he seems very down."

Jack grasped his mug of coffee and curled his fingers around the hot ceramic, he allowed the bitter aromas that floated up his nose to distract him for a moment.

"I'm keeping an eye on him Gwen, but to be honest Ianto has to work through this himself. Owen and Tosh have gone over every scrap of data and every theory we have and I agree with their conclusion."

"Which is?"

"We have to let this thing run its course without interference. If we start messing with the way time behaves or for that matter his aging process we could do all sorts of damage. Ianto knows this. Any intervention on our part would be foolhardy and dangerous. We simply do not know enough to help him." He took a sip of his coffee and watched as a myriad of emotions seemed to flit through Gwen's bright eyes.

"It just feels like we are letting him down again, and what happens if he continues to age past his, well, what he should be. We can't stop it can we?" Gwen picked up her mug and drank down a swallow, forgetting how hot it was. She almost spat out the coffee in surprise.

"Bugger."

Jack smiled at her. "No one is letting him down Gwen. As Ianto quite rightly told me this morning, this is Torchwood. It's what we do and sometimes we pay the highest price for that."

Gwen snorted. "You don't though do you."

Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes I do, because eventually I'll be the only one left behind."

"I'm sorry Jack, that was…."

He raised his hand to quieten her. "It's alright. Right now we just have to care for Ianto as best as we can without compromising his sanity and dignity. Ianto's a tough son of bitch, he'll get through this."

"He's not as tough as you think he is."

"Which is why I have been taking care of him." Jack eyed her closely, acutely aware there was more she wanted to say. "Come on Gwen, spit it out, I know there's more."

"Yes. I've been looking into some police reports, missing people out near Brecon and when I dug a little deeper some things didn't really add up, so I'd like your permission to do a more in depth search. It may be nothing, but…"

Jack nodded, his internal alarm bells ringing. He sincerely hoped Gwen wasn't about to start figuring out about the Rift taking people away. Gwen would open up a whole world of hurt if she found that out.

"Yeah ok, but don't waste too much time on it. Missing persons is a matter for the police, not us." Jack had never been more grateful for the ringing of his desk phone. Jack reached for the reciever.

"Excuse me…Harkness!"

Thankfully Gwen took that as her cue to leave and Jack's heart sank as he was greeted by the slimy tones of the Minister for Defense.

"Jackie Boy, my secretary reminded me a of my 4 monthly briefing with Mr Jones this morning and your lovely technician Miss Sato tells me he has the Shingles, so how about we have a nice chat."

It clearly wasn't a request and as if by magic Ianto placed the relevant documents down in front of him with a fresh mug of strong Javan and plate loaded with his favourite biscuits. Jack had the feeling he was being bribed somehow as he offered up a long suffering look in Ianto's direction. Ianto just grinned at him and trotted out of the office. Being youthenised did have its perks.