9

Ianto was so happy to see the food that he grabbed Jack and kissed him, thanking him like it was Christmas.

Jack sat and considered Ianto's life.

He served.

All of them. Constantly.

Who cared for Ianto?

"You do" Ianto said around a mouthful of chips, "Stop thinking. Eat, they are so yummy and soggy!"

Jack laughed and took some chips, then reached for the cans of soda pop, offering one.

"Oh, thank you" Ianto beamed as he accepted it, "This is so lovely. You do serve me. You worry if I am warm, fed, you look at my feet and wonder if my socks are warm enough, you watch Owen and worry if he is annoying me too much, oh Jack, you do care for me."

"I … guess I do" Jack smiled, "I just … I want you to be happy, safe and comfortable."

"I'm all set for tomorrow" Ianto gushed, "Three whole days, I can't take the recharger so if I charge tonight, shut down in the car there and back plus at night, I can last easily on the one recharge."

"I hadn't thought about that" Jack frowned, "We need to sort your recharges to last longer. Or …. not at all."

"No recharge means the Cyber tech shuts down" Ianto said calmly, "No Cyber Tech, no brain activity and I die."

"I know" Jack sighed, "Still. I won't stop looking for a solution for you. So you can be free if it."

"Thank you Sir" Ianto smiled.

"Right!" Jack smiled, "Owen is all ready to take over and I know you will have packed the secondary SUV. Let's get through the days' activities, recharge over night and then we go."

"Yes Sir" Ianto smiled, "Sounds like a plan."

"What Owen?" Jack frowned, listening to the coms and Ianto canted his head to listen.

"I know the Barrens Sir" Ianto frowned, "That's not really such a good thing."

Jack looked at Ianto and his shoulders slumped as he nodded, knowing their weekend of fun was about to be shelved.

"Well, you have just recharged. One night away will be OK, right?" Jack asked softly, "Maybe two? We can do the little getaway next weekend then."

Ianto felt Jack's disappointment and sought to appease him, "Two more tents, one for the girls and one for Owen."

Jack smiled as he got the third tent's unspoken occupants and nodded, "Go pack the others please Ianto."

"Sir" Ianto was literally bouncing and Jack knew he was humming under his breath as he went, something that was endearing about him.

Owen was the first to comment when Ianto slid into the back seat, "Oi! We taking the T-boy?"

"Yes Owen" Jack replied, "He has actually been out in the wild, like beyond the safety of street lights and stuff."

"What is that smell!" Owen suddenly bellowed, reminding Ianto if a small child trying to escape the car restraint as he threw himself about in the seatbelt.

"Behave!" Jack growled.

"Eww. I hate it already" Owen muttered, "No bloody loo, no room service and no bloody where to plug on your tech stuff!"

Jack slammed on the brakes and the SUV fishtailed through traffic, coming to a stop against the barrier rails. Jack spun in the seat to roar into Owen's face.

"SAY THAT AGAIN!"

"Huh?"

"Go on Owen" Jack snarled, "Call Ianto that again!"

"What?" Owen gaped, then the blood drained from his face as he went over the words, "no.. No … I never … I meant my fucking laptop ya twat! How dare you insinuate I meant him!"

Ianto sat with a look of pure horror, Tosh leaning in to interrupt the two men. "Now that Ianto knows he didn't mean him, you know he didn't mean him and Owen now has a new thing to call him when feeling like a prick, could you please stop being so touchy and get us the fuck out of the fast lane?"

Everyone gaped at the unusual temper as she defended her workmate who was twisting in his seat with embarrassment that they were even talking about him, let alone arguing.

"Sorry! Jeez, Ms Potty Mouth Sato" Jack muttered and Ianto looked out the window, trying to ignore Gwen's sympathetic glances.

Then came the stop to consult the map and the fiasco with the food, Ianto even more downtrodden so he simply powered down and the car doors slamming powered him back up, sliding out to follow Jack obediently.

"Here. Tent. Tent. Tent!" Jack was pointing and then turned to Ianto and smiled. "Off you all go, this is a team building exercise so go build people!"

"Team building my arse" Owen snarked as he tried to lift a bag and grunted.

Ianto walked past with two bags looking like they were full of cotton wool, dropping them and beginning to empty one methodically as Owen glared at him.

"I hate grass."

"Yes Owen. You hate getting wet, tired feet, cold food, small portions of Chinese and grass." Ianto stopped and canted his head, "And rap music."

"Yeah!" Owen snorted, "I fucking hate rap music!"

"I agree" Ianto nodded as he quickly erected the tent, "Most of them don't even make sense."

"Exactly!" Owen huffed, pointing at Ianto with his little wooden mallet, "Poetry isn't rap."

"The way loss seeps into neck hollows and curls at temples, sits between front teeth. Cavity empty and waiting for mourning to open the way mourning stays forever shadowing vision shaping lives with memory a drawer won't close sleep elusive, smile illusive the only real is grief forever counting the days minutes missing without knowing so that one day you find yourself showering tears. Missing that love like sugar aches teeth" Ianto recited softly and sighed, "The Missing, by Suheir Hammad."

Owen had stood listening and the wooden mallet fell from his fingers as he looked at Ianto, both men locked in each other's gaze.

"You move on" Ianto said flatly, "But you never forget the failure of loss. The Missing."

Owen looked down at his feet as he remembered Katie, her laugh and their last time out here camping.

Ianto nodded and moved away, content to leave him with the reason for his hated of the country air.

Katie's sweet scent was everywhere.