Later that same Saturday – early evening

Ianto was supposed to be pouring some wine but instead he was standing silently at the foot of his staircase listening intently as Captain Jack Harkness, saviour of the world on more than one occasion, interplanetary sex god, legend across the seven galaxies and former Time Agent read Winnie-the-Pooh to his son. Carwyn and Jack had been upstairs for over an hour and for a while, the gales of hysterical giggles from both of them had made Ianto fear that Jack was over stimulating his son to the point he would not sleep but eventually things had settled down and there had been silence for the last ten minutes. Slipping off his shoes, Ianto moved quietly up the stairs to Carwyn's bedroom. In the doorway of the room he stopped with a soft gasp, he had never seen such a beautiful sight in all of his life. A gently snoring Jack was lying on the bed with Carwyn fast asleep across his chest, both of then grasping Carwyn's plush plane in their joined hands. Moving carefully Ianto pulled his phone from his pocket and snapped the picture the two of them made. Then he moved to the side of the bed and, placing his lips close to Jack's ear whispered, 'wake up, Cariad'

With an endearing little snort, Jack jerked awake to find two grey blue eyes staring lovingly into his own. He yawned and placed a small kiss on the end of Ianto's nose.

'Sorry' he mumbled, 'our son exhausted me'

Ianto thought he might die of happiness at hearing the joy and deep contentment in Jack's voice, he gave Jack a radiant smile and in a low voice said 'I've opened a bottle of wine and ordered some Chinese food for us, I think we both have some catching up to do.'

Jack carefully disentangled himself from Carwyn who immediately spread himself out across the mattress. His attention was caught by the photo frame on the bedside table. On one side there was a picture of himself with Ianto seated across his lap, his arm looped around Jack's neck; both of them laughing and happy and on the other side there was a picture of a pale and tired looking Ianto cradling a new born Carwyn in him arms and gazing into his face with naked love and adoration. Jack picked the frame up and raised an eyebrow at Ianto, who blushed.

'I wanted him to know who his real family were. I wanted him to know about you. I made sure to tell him every night how much you would love him.'

Jack grimaced, 'and Lisa was OK with that?'

Ianto took the photographs from Jack's hands and put the pictures back where Carwyn would see them if he woke up, 'Lisa has no time for Carwyn,' he said sadly, 'she never comes in here.'

'Oh Yan' Jack didn't know what to say

Ianto took hold of his hand, 'come on' he said, 'time for us to talk.'

Ianto led Jack down the stairs and into a large comfortably appointed room. Ianto sat at one end of the sofa, clearly expecting Jack to sit facing him at the other end but Jack wasn't up for that, at all. With a broad smile he pulled Ianto to his feet and into his arms before manoeuvring both of them back down to lie full length, knees, groins, bellies and chests pressed close together. At first Jack thought Ianto was going to protest but with a small satisfied sigh the young man nuzzled into Jack's neck and relaxed into his embrace.

'So, how do you want to do this' asked Jack

'Ask me anything you want to know, that's probably the best way. I'll tell you everything I can if you'll try to do the same for me'

'OK' Jack paused then, 'where's Lisa?'

Ianto laughed, 'really? That's your first question?'

'Gods, no!' Jack smirked, 'I just wondered if she was gonna come in and freak out at finding me here.'

Ianto looked puzzled, 'she's covering the nightshift at the Hub' he said, 'you know that.'

'No she isn't' corrected Jack and then wished he could rip his tongue out

'Hmm' Ianto seemed sanguine about his wife's deception, 'another lie. She's probably fucking that creep Baxter then or planning world domination, either way she won't be home much before morning. '

Jack frowned, 'what's the story with you two?'

'Is that your question?'

'Yeah'

Ianto sighed and rested his forehead against Jack's, 'I was a mess when you left, Jack. I wasn't sleeping, or eating, I couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate. I wouldn't believe that you had gone voluntarily and I spent days reviewing CCTV footage looking for you – I was obsessive. At first, I thought the tiredness and nausea were part of being so depressed but then I passed out in the archives a couple of times and Owen found out that I was pregnant. He and Tosh were brilliant, they basically saved our lives, made me eat, got me some emotional help, made sure I slept and looked after myself and then Carwyn came along. He was so perfect I could hardly believe I had helped create him and things started to get better until...' he trailed off

Jack kissed him, 'let me guess' he said, 'Gwen?'

Ianto sighed, 'yeah. She made it clear from day one that she blamed me for you leaving – she was constantly telling me that I was useless, that I must have been a crap shag because I couldn't even keep you here, that if she had been with you, as she was meant to be, you would still be with us, that I had ruined everything for the whole team. When she found about the baby she got worse, her jealousy became everything she was; she called me freak, said I was unnatural.' Jack flinched; The Master had delighted in saying much the same things to him during his year of captivity and his sould ached for them both. Ianto held him closer and continued, 'she was relentless, it was a constant barrage of hatred. Once Carwyn was born she never missed a chance to denigrate me as a parent, kept telling me it was clear I wasn't coping, filling my head with stories about how, if you did come back, you would not want me any longer, that you were not the sort of man who would want to be burdened with a child, that we were a liability. One day it just got too much and I couldn't bear it any longer so I went down into your bunker and...' he pulled back from Jack a little and pushed up the sleeves of his tee-shirt, Jack could just make out two long thin silver vertical scars running down each arm.

'Oh Yan' whispered Jack, placing soft apologetic kisses on the damaged skin

'It was a long time ago now,' said Ianto pushing his sleeves back down and settling back into Jack's arms, ' Tosh found me,' he closed his eyes, 'that's another debt I owe her that I can never repay and something I can never apologise to her enough about. Anyway, by the time I had recovered Gwen had got this ridiculous story in her head about Carwyn being the result of a one night stand, she loved the idea that I was supposed to have cheated on you. I eventually got Tosh to admit that she and Owen had used some kind of experimental Retcon on her, to get her off my back. The story was fixed in her head so firmly she didn't even question how a heterosexual one night stand would result in a male pregnancy.'

Jack chuckled, 'she has never been the greenest blurg in the podule'

'What?'

Jack tried again, 'the brightest bulb in the box? The tastiest sandwich at the picnic? The sharpest knife in the drawer?'

'Oh right' Ianto was about to resume his story when Jack interrupted him again,

'When do we get the Lisa bit?'

Ianto smiled and kissed him, the kiss lasted for quite some time and it was with a real effort that the two men eventually pulled apart, 'the Lisa bit is coming Cariad, be patient'

Jack managed a contrite pout which just made Ianto want to kiss him again, 'OK, carry on'

'The team was falling apart' continued Ianto, 'I was worse than useless, Owen and Tosh didn't want the leadership role, they had enough to do and Gwen was temperamentally unsuited to being the boss. Then one morning, when Gwen was on the phone to UNIT she lost her temper with a Colonel Danvers and let slip that you were missing. That really put the cat among the pigeons and UNIT immediately took the opportunity to move in on us. Tosh and Owen were furious with her but, having said that, although none of us wanted UNIT's help, it was a bit of a relief when Lisa turned up. Within a fortnight we were back on track. At first she was so lovely, she seemed to adore Carwyn and she was so amazingly kind to me. I'd known her at One, she was a field operative on special ops and we had dated a couple of times before she was shipped out on a mission. I helped her when she first came to Cardiff, found her somewhere to stay, showed her around a bit, stuff like that, it was almost like therapy for me, getting me back into the real world. We started to see each other, the occasional meal out but mainly movies and takeaway here because of Carwyn, nothing too heavy, she didn't seem that interested in sex, she was only really demanding when she was drunk and to be honest that was quite a relief to me at that time' Jack felt his heart spasm, the Ianto he knew loved sex, was adventurous and generous in bed and vocal in his pleasure. Ianto seemed to realise how Jack was feeling and he brushed a reassuring hand over the older man's face before continuing, 'after a while Lisa said she loved me. It was so nice to be loved that I thought I must love her back. No-one had ever loved me before, apart from Carwyn of course.'

Tears were sparkling on Jack's eyelashes, 'I loved you Yan, I still love you, I swear to you I always will. Please believe me.'

'I do' murmured Ianto, ' I do now, but back then...you never told me before you left, I thought Gwen was right, I was just a convenient hole to shag.'

'Oh Goddesses, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry'

Ianto held him tightly, 'anyway, once we were married she changed almost overnight. She dropped all pretence about caring about Carwyn; that's mainly why I took the job of council liaison; I wasn't prepared to trust Car with Lisa or anyone she might recommend and the council job gave me flexibility and access to the council crèche. She made it clear that she only married me to get some credibility around the city. That was certainly true,' he gave a bitter little laugh, 'I had no idea that I had so many contacts around the city but as Director of Torchwood and also as my wife she was welcomed into the upper echelons of the city council. Private meetings, classified emergency plans, confidential police files – she managed to get access to them all. I knew she was up to something but I couldn't find out what, she is very smart and very sneaky. In the end I challenged her, I told her I was watching her and as soon as she put a foot wrong, as soon I had proof of what she was up to I would call in UNIT.'

Despite himself Jack was enthralled, 'what did she say?' Ianto was silent for a long time. Jack slid a finger under his chin and lifted the young man's chin so that he could look into his lost lover's eyes, 'Ianto?'

Ianto gave a long shuddering sigh, 'she laughed at me. Then she laid her cards on the table, she told me that I would continue to act the devoted husband or she would hand me and Carwyn over to the biological research division of UNIT. A man who had carried a foetus to full term and delivered of a healthy child – well, she left me under no illusion what would happen to us, if she followed through on her threat. She told me she despised me as being weak and pathetic and she loathed Carwyn, she said he was against nature. She made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with me or my son except when it was politically expedient for her to be seen as a doting wife and mother.'

'Fucking bitch' said Jack, his lips brushing Ianto's soft hair, 'so when I came back...'

Ianto laughed, 'she was furious. I don't know what she's up to Jack, honestly I don't but it's something big and you coming back really annoyed her. I think, as well, she was afraid that you would help Carwyn and I get away from her, that you would somehow keep us safe which is why she made me insist that you stay away from us. She also threatened to hand all three of us over, you, me and Carwyn. I didn't care about me but I won't let anything bad happen to Carwyn or you, especially once you had told me about...you know...the torture.'

Jack was trembling with surpassed rage; how typical of Ianto to care more about his lover and his son than himself and how typical of Lisa to spot that and exploit it to her own ends. The sooner Tosh and Susan bought down Lisa and Baxter the better, he only hoped he would have an opportunity to interrogate her himself before UNIT took her off his hands, 'I will get you both away' he promised, 'I'll organise a secure house for you and Carwyn, although it might take me a couple of days. If you can just get through tomorrow, take Carwyn to school as usual on Monday and Tuesday and then on Tuesday evening you and I will pick him up and I'll get you both to safety before I deal with Lisa, OK?'

'Ok'

Jack gently stroked Ianto's face with his finger tips, 'I swear I will protect and love you both for as long as you will let me. I know some of what Lisa and Baxter are up to and by tomorrow Tosh and Susan will have figured out the whole thing and we will have closed her down.'

'Really?' Ianto snuggled closer to Jack, 'then what?'

Jack buried his nose in Ianto's hair, 'then you and me and our son will come back here and live happily ever after.'

Ianto gave a joyous laugh and pulled out of Jack's arms, scrambling to his feet. 'Hey' protested Jack with a pout that what so much like Carwyn's Ianto felt his heart clench, 'That was pretty damn romantic what I just said, don't I at least get a kiss?'

Ianto wriggled his arse at Jack as he headed towards the hallway as the door bell rang again, 'the food is here, Cariad. Make yourself useful, go and fetch plates.'

Jack rolled onto his back, his face split by a massive grin, he was being bossed about and domesticated and, he realised, he could not be happier.