A/N: Wow… Sara Sidle from CSI and Abby are both on top… erm… right. It's too early for my mind to be in the gutter, I just had a Jack moment with that thought… guess I need more coffee ;-)

This chapter is especially for the lovely ladies of Muppetmadness who are getting exam results today (although I suspect you did great!)


Chapter Twelve: Dawn

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Ianto sat for several long moments digesting the last word that had come out of Jack's mouth. He supposed that it was rather silly for a man who regularly spoilt a pterodactyl with mutton and dark chocolate to say that what Jack had just said was impossible.

Except that it sounded impossible. Vampires were myths. Folklore. Dracula was just a story, badly exaggerated history for the sake of fiction... then again the wolfman and the Loch Ness Monster were just stories, too.

Nessie, Ianto had read in a UNIT file, was alien... or at least had been created by aliens. They had an alien explanation for Wendy, too. Sort of. "You mean vampire as in pointy teeth, doesn't have a tan, drinks…" Ianto's eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind. "You're not seriously telling me that you… and him… and you… I mean he didn't…? Did he? Jack?"

"I didn't know about his… nature… in Paris."

"What were you doing in Paris anyway?" Ianto wanted to know.

"Torchwood."

"Torchwood sent you to Paris?" he asked, grumbling. "The most exciting place you've ever sent me Barry!"

Jack laughed, "I promise, the next time aliens show up in Paris, you'll be the one I send to check it out."

"I'll hold you to that."

Still chuckling, Jack continued, "Anyway, I didn't know what he was until we ran into each other during the War."

"But you didn't stay with him."

Jack shrugged. "We went our seperate ways and I didn't see him again until I found him in Toronto. That was during the nineteen nineties."

"You went looking for him?"

"Yes."

Ianto was quiet a long moment. It was silly to be jealous of somebody Jack had gone looking for ten or fifteen years ago, long before they'd ever met. It was silly to be jealous of someone who would outlive him… never age… always be gorgeous…

Jack reached forward with his foot again, giving Ianto's toe a nudge.

The younger man looked up inquisitively.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened in Toronto?"

"You said you'd both moved on. Who were you seeing?"

"No one in particular. But it wasn't the same."

"Did you… I mean… I don't even know what I mean, Jack." He finally realized. He had absolutely no idea how to process the information. "You're both going to live forever."

"Maybe. And maybe someday we'll meet up again and it'll be like it was in Paris, I don't know."

"How do you expect me to feel secure about us knowing all this?"

"I expect you to trust me," Jack told him the truth, a little hurt that he had to say it.

"Do you ever regret not staying with him?"

"Sometimes. When somebody I love dies it makes me wonder what it would be like to have... to have the kind of relationship he'd been asking me for with somebody I don't have to watch grow old and die."

Ianto reached out and brushed some of the hair off Jack's forehead; the pain in the older man's tone made him hurt, too. "I guess I should be glad you have someone you can turn to, someone who understands what it is to live forever, to never change. Give or take a few grey hairs," he added grinning with a wry little grin.

It was the joke that told Jack Ianto would be ok. He leant forward and pressed his lips to the younger man's mouth. "What do you say we continue this at home?" Jack asked several long, pleasant moments later. "There isn't anything more we can do here tonight, anyway," he added to the look on his partner's face.

"I just feel like I should be doing more to find Dafydd."

"There's only so much you can do, Sweetheart. If it'll make you happy, we can swing by his flat on the way home…"

Ianto nodded. It would make him feel a lot better to know he'd done at least that much. "Just one thing though. You and Henry… I mean… the whole… blood… thing…?" he hesitated, not sure he wanted to know, but according to some of the folklore...

Jack's expression was enough to tell him that yes he had and that apparently Jack had enjoyed it. A lot. Ianto found himself considering that threesome idea a little more than he would have cared to admit to...

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"Jack…" the Welshman hesitated as they got out to the SUV.

"Hmm?" Jack murmured, deep in his own thoughts as well. "What is it?" the older man looked up. The Henry discussion had seemed to be closed, but Ianto's tone and expression were both pensive.

"I erm… I was wondering… I know Mickey just joined us, but… I mean… with everything going on," he stopped outside the passenger side of the vehicle and leant up against it, looking over the top of the SUV. "You know, you and me and… Jason… and everything…"

"Ianto, what's the matter?"

The Welshman cleared his throat, "I was wondering if… you'd consider hiring… I mean… with whatever's going on with Gwen… Something is going on with Gwen, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jack slid into the SUV.

Ianto followed suit, getting into the passenger seat next to him. "What is it?" he asked, because Jack's expression told him that whatever was up with Gwen, he wasn't happy about it.

"I promised her I wouldn't say anything," he started the SUV and eased it out of the car park.

"She's not thinking of leaving us, is she?"

Jack blinked, but really, he knew he shouldn't be surprised by Ianto's perceptiveness. "I'm not sure. She's pregnant."

"That's great… isn't it?"

Jack shrugged; the road was clear. He realized as he glanced eastwards that the sun was starting to come up. So much for being home before anybody gets up… as it was, they'd be heading back in, in a few hours. But Ianto would at least get the chance to go home and shower and dress for work.

The world, Jack thought with a quiet little smile, might actually come grinding to a halt if Ianto Jones-Harkness were ever forced to show up for a proper work day in anything less than a suit and tie. "I have to call her today and sort it out," he said. "It would have been more great if she'd told me before I dragged her out into the field with you and Mickey."

"Is that why she got so sick the other night?" Ianto asked; Jack could see the pieces of the puzzle starting to fit together in the younger man's head. "That's how you knew, you were sick like that with Jason," Ianto concluded.

He nodded.

"So," Ianto began again. "I was thinking… wondering really… if this might be a good time to consider looking for new people? Even if Gwen doesn't leave, she's going to be on light duty… oh God, you're not going to let her near the coffee machine like you did Owen, are you? Jack… please…"

He laughed at his partner's tone. It was as much over his young Welshman's panic and his possessiveness of that stupid machine as it was over the fact that Ianto had said Owen's name twice tonight without that forlorn look in his eyes. He's healing, Jack thought. They all were, but Ianto had gone through such pains to hide how much he missed Toshiko and Owen that Jack worried about him.

He reached over and gave his partner's knee a gentle pat. "She'll be on desk duty and… and maybe we can get her to man the tourist office or something, but I promise, I won't let her near your coffee machine."

"Thank you."

Jack just shook his head… although thinking of coffee made him wish he'd asked Ianto to make him a travel mug before they left. Maybe after swinging by Dafydd's flat, he'd find a Starbucks.

"As for bringing in new people," Jack said as he turned into the younger Jones' street, "you might have a point. With us moving out of the Hub and Gwen having to take it easy, we could probably use one or two more people."

"Do you want me to start a search?"

Jack shook his head. "I'll send feelers out to some friends…" the odd smile on the his partner's face stopped him.

"Sorry. Just the way you said 'feelers'. You made it sound terribly kinky.'

Jack chuckled, "Maybe it's something we should try later. You. Me. Feelers…" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Ianto laughed; maybe he was just tired. "Later, Cariad. We're going to have to head back in soon."

"We might have time for a quick... "

"Children, Jack. Jason's friends are over, remember?"

"Ok, so quick and quiet…"