Lucy folded her arms and leaned against the desk facing him, "You really do deserve a slap you know, you have the tact and discretion of a well slung half-brick."
Jack straightened up and looked at her with his head slightly on one side, "Yeah, I thought you were showing exceptional restraint…" She slapped him, hard. "Yeah, I figure I deserved that one."
"That was for dumping me by phone you arsehole! Of all the rotten, half-baked things to do, dumping someone by phone is only second to doing it by email." He looked slightly shocked and rubbed his cheek, where a red mark was already starting to show, "How long was it before you moved on to Ianto? I thought you'd died or something, you sounded so fatalistic. Then I get a message through at work saying that a request has come from Torchwood for assistance and, lo and behold, it's from Captain Jack Harkness. Where did the Captain come from? Pirates of the Caribbean?!"
"He was an American volunteer in the RAF during the Second World War. He went out on a bombing raid and never came back; the next night I landed in London running a con and used his name. I picked up a girl and her companion, The Doctor, and I've been using his name ever since."
Her face was a picture of astonishment, "None of that made any sense until you mentioned the Doctor. It still doesn't make a lot of sense. You were a conman? And you took someone's name? Who are you, Jack? Did I love a lie?"
"I have been Captain Jack Harkness for over a hundred and fifty years," he gripped her shoulders and stared into her eyes, willing her to see that he was telling the truth, "I died, way off in the future, I died, but I was brought back to life and now I can't die. Never ever. I mean, I have died, I've been shot, stabbed, kicked by a horse, fallen off cliffs, electrocuted, exposed to the time vortex, had all my life energy absorbed by Abaddon, everything, but I come back every time. I have no choice in it, it just happens. When I died I was Captain Jack Harkness, and ever since that's who I've stayed. I don't even remember my real name now, and I don't want to. That was another life, someone I don't want to be anymore. If you loved Jack Harkness, you loved me, because that's who I am, and that's who I'll stay, until the end of time."
She shook her head, "You kept it from me though. Everything, I had no idea any of this existed until long after you left. I did another course at university in London, accounting – as if – and I joined a society which met to discuss extra-terrestrial happenings. From that I joined Torchwatch and met David, we followed Torchwood goings on, and The Doctor, most of the groups follow him. Then someone from UNIT came to a meeting, secretly, infiltrated the group and eventually recruited us together. We were married by then. I was so broken after you left; I threw myself into everything to stop myself thinking and dwelling on what we'd had." She broke away from his grasp and turned away to stop him seeing her tears, "David and I, we rushed into marriage. It was too fast, but it worked out. We have two children, daughters. Why, Jack, was it really to protect me, or was it to protect yourself?"
He felt suddenly wrong-footed by the rapid changes of direction, "You have children? How…"
"The usual way." She interrupted angrily.
"How old?" He continued.
"Oh… Five and three, Bella and Sarah. They're a handful, little dynamos, but the best thing that's ever happened to me." She glared at him, "But you're missing the point."
"I'm missing the point!? You're all over the place." He knew as he said it that he'd made a mistake, the look on her face hammered the point home, so he back-paddled quickly, "Yes, I left you to protect you from the dangers of the life I lead. Yes, I also left you to protect myself from the dangers of the life I lead. Yes, it's all seeming a bit pointless now, seeing as you're living the same life and it hurt like hell losing you anyway. OK?"
"No, it's not, because none of this should have happened. I would have coped Jack, why couldn't you trust me?"
"It wasn't you I didn't trust." He admitted.
An hour later, Lucy and David had gone to their hotel, Tosh and Owen had headed out to a bar for a bit and Gwen had dashed home, leaving Jack and Ianto alone in the hub again. The atmosphere between them was tenser than usual, and Jack knew that something was bothering Ianto.
"Penny for them…" He smiled at Ianto who was making coffee, as usual.
"I was just thinking, you've never mentioned her. You talk about all the mad ones, the outlandish ones that we never know whether to believe or not, but you don't talk about ordinary relationships. I was starting to wonder if you'd had any."
"And now you're wondering how many there have been?" Jack guessed.
"Partly," Ianto sighed, looking up at him, "Partly wondering which I am. When I'm gone, will you talk about me? Or will you forget about me?"
Jack's throat constricted and he just held the younger man, drawing as much comfort as he gave. Eventually he found himself able to talk again, "Don't think like that. I will never, ever forget you Ianto Jones. When I reach the end of the universe, and I'm all alone, and all the stars have gone out, there will still be one in my life, and it will be the memory of you." He tilted Ianto's face to his and kissed him, desperate to savour every moment, knowing that all too soon, the moments would run out.