Jack stared at his phone in disbelief. He shook his head to himself, this cannot be happening, he thought, not again so soon after the last time. He checked his watch; they'd parted company not more than two hours ago in such high spirits. Ianto had seemed happy and Jack had been certain he'd have his beautiful Welshman back where he belonged before too long. What could possibly have gone wrong in less than two hours?

TWTWTWTW

5 minutes before:

Jack whistled happily as he stood in the kitchen, chopping up onions to put into the tomato sauce he intended serving with pasta for his evening meal. When his phone rang, he picked it up and answered with a chuckle.

"Hey, Ianto," he laughed, "what's up, missing me already?"

"'m sorry, Jack." Ianto's voice sounded ragged, like he'd been crying.

Jack felt sick.

"What is it, Ianto. What's up?"

"I didn't know, Jack. I swear to you, I didn't know. After 8 years, I thought it couldn't hurt me anymore but I was wrong, and now I've dragged Rhiannon into it, and you, and I didn't mean to and I'm sorry."

Ianto's speech came out in a rush of welsh vowels and half choked sobs.

"Ianto, please, slow down, you're not making any sense."

"I can't go through this again, and I have to protect Rhiannon. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"IANTO! What the hell are you talking about, Ianto, answer me, Ianto!"

It took a second or two for Jack to realise he was yelling down an empty phone line. He stared at his phone in consternation wondering what might have happened to upset Ianto so badly. He pressed the call redial button, cursing out loud when he got the voicemail message. He scrolled through the numbers on his phone, checking for Rhiannon's and growling to himself when he realised he didn't have it. Fuck, he thought, why the hell didn't he have her number, what if there had been an emergency? He refused to let his mind acknowledge that this could be one, as he flew into the hallway to check in the little address book they kept on the hall table. He cursed again when he saw that Rhiannon's number wasn't there either. In fact none of the numbers in the book were in Ianto's handwriting. Jack should have known, the Welshman had an eidetic memory and had never written down an address or a telephone number in all the time Jack had known him. He looked around, seeking inspiration on what to do next and, spotting his car keys on the table he grabbed them, slipped his shoes on and ran out the door.

TWTWTWTWT

When he reached Rhiannon's house, he rang the door bell, not waiting for a reply before banging hard on the door.

By the time she answered it, he was frantic.

"Let me in, I want to see, Ianto," he yelled.

"You can't." She stood in the doorway and squared her jaw at him, "he's in bed."

"Look," Jack tried to stay calm, "he rang me, I just need to make sure he's okay."

Her gaze flicked up the stairs and Jack took advantage of the momentary distraction to push past her and in to the house.

"Hey, you can't..." she started.

Jack ignored her and pushed on, taking the stairs two at a time. Realising he didn't know which was Ianto's room he started yelling loudly, knocking on all the doors until the man appeared. He was bare-chested and wearing pyjama bottoms, his face pale and tearstained. Jack didn't pause but rushed forward, wrapping his arms around him, kissing his face and murmuring soothing words while his body shook with noiseless sobs.

On the bottom step, Rhiannon watched the scene play out for a moment before moving to follow Jack up the stairs. She was held back by a hand on her arm.

"Let them be," Johnny told her.

She glared at him, shook her arm free and turned away to climb the stairs. Before she'd got more than two steps however, Johnny yelled angrily.

"I SAID LEAVE IT!"

Rhiannon startled and turned towards him, her eyes wide with shock. Johnny almost never yelled, and to her memory he'd never yelled at her. She looked back up the stairs and sighed in defeat as she watched Jack slowly back Ianto into the room and shut the door behind them. She flopped down on the stair and held her head in her hands. She felt Johnny touch her shoulder and when he spoke again, his tone had softened somewhat.

"It's time to let go," he said.

TWTWTWTW

Jack continued to whisper soothing words into Ianto's ear as he backed him towards the bed. He kicked off his shoes and lay down on it, pulling the younger man down with him. He turned half on his side and half on his front, cradling Ianto's head in the crook of his elbow. He placed his free hand on the younger man's cheek, gently rubbing his thumb over the still visible tear tracts. He bent his head forward and kissed him, first on the lips, and then on the forehead, then pulled back to stare deep into his eyes.

"Now what's this all about?" he murmured, softly.

Ianto looked up at him, his gaze flickering between each of the older man's eyes. His bottom lip quivered.

"Everyone hates me here," He sounded so much younger than his 26 years.

"What, Johnny and Rhiannon? You think they hate you."

"No," Ianto explained, "Not Johnny and Rhi, I mean here, on this estate. They hate me, they always have. I never fitted in, and when I left they said it was because I thought I was better than them."

"You are better than them."

"No, no I'm not. You don't know."

"What don't I know?"

Ianto sighed, "It doesn't matter. There's nothing I can do, I'll never get out of here now anyway."

Jack lay on his back and pulled Ianto in to his side, tucking the younger man's head under his chin.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"There's nothing, there's nothing anyone can do."

"Please tell me what's wrong."

Ianto stayed quiet for a long time and Jack began to wonder if he'd fallen asleep.

"I had a visitor today," he said at last, "He was waiting for me after you dropped me off. I think Rhiannon invited him, but I can't blame her, she didn't know. I never told her, I never told anyone."

"What didn't you tell her?"

"His name is Adam Smith," Ianto went on, ignoring the question, "I suppose you could say he was my first boyfriend. I was fifteen, he was two years older and whatever it was we had, it was seriously twisted. It lasted almost three years until I went away to University. Before you he was my longest relationship."

"And yet you've never mentioned him before." Jack frowned.

"No, I guess I thought if I didn't acknowledge it, if I could just forget him, it would be like he'd never existed."

"Things where that bad between you?"

Ianto swallowed down a sob.

"I was bullied when I was younger," he said, "I suppose you know that all ready, but I never told you how bad it was. At school, everyday, the other kids would find new ways to torture me, and then when I came home the estate kids would beat me up and nick my trainers, or tie me to a tree with my pants around my ankles."

Jack rubbed Ianto's back, his hands going up and down from the small of his back to the spot between his shoulder blades.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"When Adam came on the scene though, everything changed." The Welshman went on, "He's the local hard case but everyone loves him around here. He was and I think still is, dealing. He was also running a protection racket and pimping a little on the side, but he's always looked after his own. If some old dear on the estate was having a problem with the local kids or a loan shark, he'd step in and sort it out. Sometimes I wonder if it was my da, if he asked him to stop the other kids from bullying me, but whatever it was, he suddenly started taking an interest in me sometime after my 15th birthday."

"You said...pimping?" Jack swallowed, "Ianto, did he ever..."

"No, he didn't. Not me. I was his, see; no one else was allowed to touch me. Of course, outside of our little gang, no one knew that we were actually fucking but when he took me under his wing, all the bullying stopped overnight. Nobody messed with you if you were part of Adam's gang and at first it was good. I felt like I belonged for the first time ever and he had a way of making you feel special," Ianto took in a breath and let it out in a sigh, "but after a few months" he said, "when it became clear what he wanted me for, it was too late, I was hooked."

"And what was it," Jack asked him, gently. "What did he want you for?"

"A punch bag, a whipping boy," Ianto showed no emotion, "He used to say I was his stress toy. That he needed someone to take everything out on. He said it gave him a high, making me feel the bad stuff, and the funny thing was; at first I loved it too. I loved that I could do that for him."

Jack stiffened. His emotions spiked and without realising it, he found he was taking short, sharp breaths and snorting them out through his nose.

Ianto whimpered a little.

"You're angry..." he sobbed.

"No!" Jack sat up, letting Ianto's head fall back on the pillow, "I mean yes, yes I'm angry but not at you." He took one of Ianto's hands in his own and sat cross legged, their joined hands resting in his lap. He softened his gaze and cupped Ianto's face with his free hand, "not at you, never at you. I love you."

"I love you too but you don't understand."

"What don't I understand?"

"That he's back, and he's looking at me that way again. Like he wants me. Like he'll do whatever it takes to have me. He'll threaten Rhiannon, and push me and there's something about him that makes you believe whatever he wants you to believe."

"But you're not a boy anymore."

"That's what I said. He said he knew that. He said I was crap at blow jobs back then and he wanted to know if I'd improved. He made it sound like he was going to be finding out soon."

For a second Jack's face clouded over but he forced down the bile that he could taste in the back of his throat. Now was not the time for anger, now was the time for making sure Ianto was safe. That was his priority. Later, there would be time enough for retribution...and then Jack was going to fucking kill Adam Smith.

"I promise you, Ianto," he said, "No one and I mean no one, is going to hurt you. You didn't have me back then."

Ianto searched Jack's face for any sign that the older man was bluffing. He shook his head.

"You don't know..."

"Yes I do," Jack interrupted him, "Now listen very carefully, If I'm going to help you, I need to know something. When you came out of hospital, why didn't you want to come home to me?"

Ianto looked away but when he looked back, Jack's gaze hadn't wavered.

"I've got a supervision order," he admitted with a sigh.

"I know."

"You do?" Ianto replied, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. It was in the local paper."

"Oh, why didn't you say something?"

"I dunno, I thought you didn't want to talk about it."

"Oh."

"Is that it, is that the only reason you didn't come home."

"Sort of. You see, a supervision order means a social worker has to know where you're living. They have to do reports and assessments on the people you are living with."

"And you thought I wouldn't want that."

"No that's not it, not exactly. I was just too embarrassed to ask."

Jack stroked Ianto's head and keeping his voice steady he spoke quietly and carefully.

"But what if I told you I don't care about any of that. What if I told you I don't care how many interfering busybodies poked their noses in our business or asked pointless questions about the 'nature of our relationship,' as long as it means we can be together at the end of it."

Ianto gulped. He licked his lips.

"Then I'd like to come home," he said

"Good, then why don't you get dressed and pack your bags while I talk to Rhiannon."

Ianto nodded and stood up, pulling a suitcase from under the bed.

Jack watched for a moment as the younger man took a shirt out of the wardrobe and carefully folded it before dropping it in the case. The American chuckled a little, no matter how upset Ianto was, nothing would allow him to ruin a shirt by throwing it into the case haphazardly.

"One more thing, Ianto," he said, "No more secrets, yeah? From now on, we tell each other everything."

Ianto stopped what he was doing, he studied Jack carefully before replying.

"Yeah," he lied, "no more secrets."

Jack left the room and went downstairs, finding Rhiannon and Johnny talking quietly in the lounge, their heads bent together. When she spotted Jack, she stood up and glared at him, her face defiant.

"I'm leaving," Jack barked, before she could say anything, "and I'm taking him with me."

"You can't," she answered, "his social worker..."

"...will be more than happy I've got him out of here when they find out you invited an abusive ex boyfriend back in to his life."

"An abusive ex," she scoffed, "what are you talking about?" Her hand flew to her mouth as she contemplated the implications of what Jack was saying, remembering her brother's strange reaction to Adam's sudden appearance, "Oh," she sat down heavily on the couch. Johnny put his arm around her shoulders.

"Now, here's what's going to happen," Jack said sternly, "When Ianto comes down in a moment, you are going to tell him you are sorry, that you never meant for him to get hurt and you know now that the best place for him is with me, do I make myself clear?"

She fiddled with her hands in her lap, not responding.

"Answer ME Rhiannon!"

"That's enough, Jack." Johnny answered for her, "she knows she's done wrong and she'll do what you say."

"Good. And Rhiannon," Jack said, "when this is all over, me and you are going to have a little talk."

TWTWTWTW

Jack put Ianto's case down on the doorstep and keeping his arm firmly around the younger man's waist, he struggled to get out his keys and open the door. He grinned and moved his hand to the small of Ianto's back, guiding him over the threshold.

"You know," he said, turning the young Welshman around to face him, he licked his lips suggestively, "there's something I've really missed us doing together while you've been away."

"Jack, I..." Ianto spoke hesitantly.

Jack cut him off with a kiss. He pulled away and placed a finger against the younger man's lips.

"Shhh," he said, "You go get the duvet and pick out a film. I'll get the popcorn."