I'm currently uploading Secrets onto AO3 under the same story-name and pan-name. It hasn't changed particularly, but I have edited grammar and tried to keep some other aspects more in character. Feel free to check it out if you want.

And that's when the situation hit her, she trusted Ianto with her life. But how much of Ianto was in there, in control when he was high off adrenaline and she was covered in blood. His dark eyes met hers, full of hunger.

At some point Gwen had fallen onto the floor. She wasn't exactly sure when, maybe it had been when the alien had struck, maybe it had been when Ianto had killed it, maybe she had tripped over her own to feet in her desperate struggle to get away from him.

The Ianto she knew disappeared. In his place was an animal. A skilled predator, it's prey cornered, ready to be killed. Gwen swore his eyes had been a vibrant orange earlier that day, but at the sight of more blood, human blood, Ianto looked positively famished.

"Jack we- we may have a problem," Gwen's voice trembled slightly, as she spoke into the comms.

"Why? Gwen what's happened down there,"

"The alien scratched me,"

"Jack the creature's been taken care, it vaguely resembles a weevil. Anyway Gwen was injured, I'm going to take care of her now," Ianto's voice was calm but detached, like he wasn't really there, aware of what was happening.

Suddenly Ianto was next to her, lifting her arm. "It's ok Gwen. The wound doesn't look too deep, just need to bandage it up, you should be fine though."

"What?"

"You're safe Gwen, I have amazing self-control. No need to panic. I just need to run back to the car and get the first aid kit. I'll be gone for just a minute max, do you think you'll be ok?"

Gwen nodded, unable to stop the guilt running through her because she instantly thought the worst of her friend. In less than a minute Ianto had returned, rifling through the first aid kit.

"I need a look at your arm," Gwen pulled up her sleeve, wincing at the three scratch marks covering her arm. They could have been worse, but the wounds were deep enough and her top was ruined due to the amount of blood already present. Ianto gently took her arm and began disinfecting the wound, smiling apologetically as she winced at the sting.

Within minutes Ianto had applied basic butterfly stitches and wrapped Gwen's arm securely. "You might want to get Owen to look at it properly when you get back, but it should be fine for the next hour or so,"

"Ianto you're shaking,"

He grimaced, looking down at his quivering hands. "So I am, I'll be fine though,"

"It's making you uncomfortable, that's not fair. Look I'll drive back to the hub, I should be able to do that, you go back now, tell Jack what happened if you want."

"Gwen I can't just do that,"

"I don't care sweetheart, you're in a position that isn't helpful in the slightest. It's a twenty minute drive back and I can't knowingly put you in that situation. My arm's not too bad so I'll be fine driving."

"Only if you're sure," When Gwen confirmed once again that she was fine driving back, Ianto nodded and disappeared. It was then she realised that at some point Ianto had moved the alien's body and she was pretty sure it would be in the back of the SUV when she checked.

"Jack the alien's dead," Gwen said, filling him in on what had happened. Owen had demanded that she let him check her arm when she came back, but only after he was sure that she would be okay driving back and wouldn't run anyone off the road. "I told Ianto to go on without me, he managed to fix up my arm pretty well, but he looked ready to snap. I didn't want to put him in a situation like that, it isn't fair. If he's gone straight to the hub he should be back in a bit, but he might have gone to cool down,"

"All right thanks Gwen. We'll see you in a bit,"

When she arrived at the car, the first thing the former police woman did was check the boot, where just as she had thought, the alien was. Even when he was trying to stay in control, Ianto was always looking out for others.

TWTWTWTWTWTW

"All right thanks Gwen. We'll see you in a bit. Take your time though," Jack ended the connection, before swearing lightly.

"She'll be okay Jack," Tosh said, trying to sooth his nerves.

"It's not her I'm worried about. Ianto seems to have been pretty on edge if the way Gwen was talking about him is anything to go by. The fact that he was put into a situation like that can't bode well."

"Stop fretting Harkness, fangs will be fine,"

"Yes thank you Owen, don't you need to get ready for Gwen?"

He ignored the medic's grumblings as the alarm doors started blaring and the cog wheel rolled open. Ianto stepped through, his tie pulled down slightly and his face full of worry and he was obviously tense.

"Ianto," Jack called, as he pushed past him, simply a blur as he ran down to the archives. "You two wait up here for Gwen, I need to speak to Ianto,"

Tosh and Owen nodded, identical looks of worry on their faces. He ran down the stairs and within minutes was at the entrance of the archives. Now was the difficult bit, no-one knew these archives better than Ianto, he could be hidden absolutely anywhere and even if he did get anywhere near him, Ianto would be able to hear him from miles and thus avoid him with ease.

That was why as Jack opened the door that led to the small archive office he was more than surprised to see Ianto leaning against the desk, trying his best to look as casual as he could, although he still seemed somewhat shaken.

"Now how did I know you'd follow me down here,"

"Maybe because you have super senses and can here me breathing when your 5 floors below and I'm in my office, so when I'm 10 feet away from you, there's no problem. And because at the worst of time I can be incredibly predictable,"

Ianto chuckled quietly. "Not at all Sir,"

The pair stood in a comfortable silence for a moment, Jack walked over to the desk and took Ianto's hand lightly. "I almost fucked up today Jack. Like properly fucked up," Jack didn't say

a word, knowing that Ianto needed to talk about what had happened. What had happened between him and Gwen earlier had shook him up, and Jack knew that flowery words would do nothing to ease his lover's conscience. "When that thing scratched Gwen's arm I just couldn't cope. It was the only thing I could focus on. Yes I killed the creature, but it wasn't entirely because I wanted to save Gwen. On some sort of level, I was guarding her, but not because she's my co-worker, my friend but because I didn't want someone getting to the prey first. My prey."

"You didn't hurt her though Ianto. You're not a bad person, no matter what you think,"

"I don't think I'm a bad person Jack, I'm a monster. I didn't think twice about snapping that creature's neck and given half the chance I would have sucked Gwen dry."

"Yan you didn't though, something stopped you from hurting Gwen. And that's because you're in control, you're human and I know you. I trust you with my life as do Gwen, Tosh and Owen, which probably has more meaning seeing as I'm immortal."

"Jack I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I just need to be on my own right now."

"Of course, just come up whenever," Jack lightly kissed Ianto's forehead and walked out of the room, letting the door close quietly behind him.

"Is Ianto all right?" Tosh asked as he re-entered the main area. At some point Gwen had arrived and her and Owen were in the medical bay looking over her arm.

"He's pretty torn up about what happened, feels really guilty." Tosh bit her lower lip lightly, one of her habits whenever she was worried about something but wasn't sure how to fix the current problem. "He'll be fine though, if you'll excuse me I've just got to make a call." Tosh nodded and waved Jack away, going back to the complicated programme running on her computer.

The captain smiled lightly at Owen and Gwen and shut his office door behind him. Pulling out his phone, Jack went straight to his contacts, pressing call once he found a specific number. "Carlisle, I think you better come in, it's about Ianto."

TWTWTWTWTW

"All right Jack, I understand. I'll be there in a few minutes," Carlisle hung up the phone and sighed.
"What was that about love?" Esme asked, sitting up where she had previously been leaning against Carlisle on the sofa, enjoying rare peace and quiet.

The others had all decided to take advantage of the long weekend they were being granted and had left Cardiff the previous night to spend a few days hunting. Only Ianto, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper and Alice had stayed behind. Alice had been invited to a party from a girl she had befriended in her school year, whilst both Carlisle and Ianto had to stay for their respective jobs. Esme and Jasper had decided to stay in Cardiff with their spouses, knowing that hunting trips were also used as romantic excursions and neither felt like intruding.

Carlisle quickly explained the situation to his wife, pulling on his shoes and coat as he talked.

"Bring Jasper with you," Esme said once he'd finished. "He knows the situation that Ianto was in, will know what he's thinking and feeling."

"You're right. Jasper," Carlisle called. In less than a second Jasper had appeared from the garden, Carlisle quickly explained the situation to him. "I was wondering if you'd come with me. I don't know how much my words will mean to Ianto, after all I've never drank human blood and haven't been tempted for centuries. You've had similar struggles and if you're comfortable going over to Torchwood it would mean a lot,"

"That's fine, are we leaving now?" Carlisle nodded and the two vampires left the house in a blur.

TWTWTWTWTW

In just over ten minutes Carlisle and Jasper had made their way to the hub, Jack already waiting for them in the tourist office. "I'm glad you could make it," he said, pressing the button under the desk that opened the secret door. The three made their way into the hub, both Carlisle and Jasper obviously fascinated by the whole base.

"He's in the archives, hasn't moved actually. It's just through the door, down one flight of stairs and on the first right."

"Thank you captain," Carlisle nodded, before both he and his adopted son ran to the archives.

They found the archives quickly due to Jasper being able to pick up Ianto's emotions before they had even made their way down the stairs.

"You okay Ianto?" Carlisle asked when they entered the room. Ianto looked up, the surprise obvious on his face. "Jack called us, he told us what happened earlier." Ianto remained silent, looking back down at the floor, refusing to look Carlisle or Jasper in the eyes.

"There's no need to be ashamed you know," Jasper began. "I know just how difficult that must have been for you Ianto and the fact that you managed to step away, calm down and then tend to her wound shows great self-restraint. If that had been me, well I'm not sure I could do it." He was interrupted when Ianto gave a short snort of laughter, as if he couldn't believe it. "No I'm serious. I haven't touched a drop of human blood in almost forty years but some days I still struggle. I had only been feeding on animal for thirty years when Bella ended up giving herself a paper cut and I almost ripped her apart.

"You haven't killed a human in twelve years now, and when Gwen's arm is practically ripped to shreds you manage to stop yourself. That is an incredible amount of self-control you have and it shows how strong you are."

"But I wanted to. God I wanted to just drain her dry so badly. She was just there Jasper, I could have killed her before she even knew what was going on."

"But you didn't Ianto and that is the most important thing. I know you hate yourself at the moment, I can feel it, but you have to move past this. The others don't blame you for what happened, I felt that too as we arrived. They're scared yes, but not of you. They're scared that you'll do something stupid and leave. You are stronger than this, today just proved it. Most vampires would have wanted to do that, but truth is, not a lot of them would have been able to restrain themselves."

The three vampires stood in silence for a moment, giving Ianto time to think. "I know you're right Jasper, but it's still difficult. The only reason I managed to stop myself was because it hit that that was Gwen. If it had been a random passerby I dread to think what would of happened."
"But it didn't happen Yan," Carlisle said sedately, placing his hand on the younger's shoulder. "And you can't spend your time going over 'what ifs' and 'what might have been's', you'll just end up wasting lifetimes and drive yourself mad."

"I know, it is difficult though. Thank you for coming down though, it meant a lot."

"We're a family, it's what we do," Carlisle shrugged. "Do you want us to stay with you any longer or do you think you'll be ok."

"I'll be fine, I'm just going to sort out these files, I'll see you both tonight," Carlisle and Jasper quickly departed after that, leaving Ianto to his thoughts. He understood what they were saying, but he knew he would feel guilty about almost killing Gwen for a long time to come. Carlisle was right though, he couldn't spend the rest of his life feeling guilty about something that didn't happen. That wasn't fair on himself, his family or his team.

Shaking himself out of thoughts, Ianto straightened his tie and tried to make himself look slightly more presentable. Once he was happier about his appearance, he slowly made his way to the hub to make the others coffees. The hub was silent when he entered, but he knew they hadn't been talking about him, in fact he hadn't heard any of them utter a single word since he had started walking down the corridor.

It didn't make it any less disconcerting though, but Ianto just tried to make his way over to the coffee machine as calmly as possible. By the time the coffees were brewing, the others had looked away and all seemed to be getting on with their own work. He poured the drinks and unloaded each drink to the respective drinker. He had purposefully left Gwen till last, and when he placed her spotty pink mug on the table he quietly apologised for the earlier events.

"You don't need to apologise love," Gwen said, a small smile on her face to show that she meant what she said. "My arm's practically good as new," Ianto couldn't help but smile either as she lifted up her bandaged arm. "No hard feelings?" Gwen asked a second later.

"Definitely," Ianto smiled, that was when he noticed that Jack had left his office, Owen the autopsy bay and Tosh was openly watching the pair from her desk. He smiled again because finally this team was becoming a close unit who looked out for each others backs and he couldn't be happier.