12.

They seemed to have come to a quiet understanding. Ianto and Jack worked peacefully together over the next few weeks and the rest of the team picked up on the changes between them. A dynamic was established that consisted of Ianto staying at the Hub while Jack and the others went out on retrievals. Ianto worked in the archives, did the filing and took over other tasks to make the team's work easier. He ate lunch with them and was slowly accepted in their midst. He spent the nights at the Hub, talking to Jack or helping him with his paperwork before retiring to his cell. They developed a tentative friendship based on too many losses and having seen the worst of each other, and it worked.

Sometimes, though, Ianto caught himself looking at Jack for a bit longer than was appropriate. With Jack returning his looks with a smile or a wink, it was easy to forget about his situation. It almost felt normal and Ianto missed normal so much it hurt. He missed the warmth of another body close to his, hugs and kisses and passion. And he felt incredibly guilty for missing it since Lisa had only been dead for about half a year now. He couldn't help being drawn towards Jack, though, who was just always there and attentive, funny and earnest, gorgeous and careful.

And then everything changed again when a Rift alert came in one evening and Jack burst into Ianto's cell, interrupting a night of hot cocoa and reading in bed. "Gwen's on a date with Rhys, Tosh and Owen are on a retrieval in Swansea, so that leaves you."

Ianto stared at him. "You want me to-"

"Yes," Jack answered. "Hurry up." He grinned and winked. "Keep on the pajamas if you want, though. It looks dead sexy."

Ianto blushed and Jack bit his lip, suddenly seeming self-conscious. It was obvious that he was trying to keep the flirting to a minimum. Ianto suspected that he felt uncomfortable because Ianto was technically still his prisoner.

"Right," Ianto said and got up from the bed. "I'll be at the SUV in two minutes."

Jack nodded. He turned to go and Ianto heard him calling UNIT to let them know that he was taking Ianto out on a retrieval. The chip was still somewhere within his body. Despite Leo's attempts to convince General Thompson, UNIT was cautious about removing it. Jack thought it was because they liked riling him up, Ianto thought it was because they liked being in charge.

He changed into jeans and a t-shirt and pulled on his hoodie and sneakers, then he followed Jack towards the garage. He couldn't help but smile. A retrieval! He hadn't left the Hub for weeks and now Jack was trusting him enough to take him with him.

He smiled when he settled into the passenger seat. "Do you know what it is?"

Jack winked at him. "I had a look at the CCTV. Trust me, you will love this."

xxx

Ianto laughed loudly and turned his head to follow the big creature that was flying around the abandoned warehouse above his and Jack's heads. "Oh, my God! It's a pteranodon."

"I thought you would like it," Jack said with a grin. "I bet you were all over your dinosaur books when you were a child."

"This is amazing," Ianto said and looked at Jack. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"For showing me this."

"Are you kidding?" Jack asked and held up a ridiculously huge syringe. "I need help catching that beast." He grinned at Ianto. "You distract it and I put it under."

Ianto hesitated. "Are you sure that'll work?"

"You will make it work," Jack answered with certainty. Ianto looked around the warehouse, seeing nothing but a big, empty, dirty room. Nothing that would help him distract the creature that had come through the Rift from the past. The pteranodon screeched and landed on the other side of the warehouse, eying them mistrustfully. Ianto looked at Jack, who just raised a challenging eyebrow. "You want to start doing fieldwork? Then help me," he said.

Ianto huffed an annoyed breath and approached the pteranodon carefully, making a semi-circle around it. He whistled until it looked at him with its head tipped to the side questioningly. Jack came up behind it, his hand with the syringe raised and ready.

Ianto raised both hands and slowly approached the creature. "Hello there," he said. The creature looked at him with obvious disapproval. Ianto nodded. "Hi!"

The pteranodon screeched.

"I don't think she likes me very much," Ianto said.

Jack mouthed, 'She?'

Ianto shrugged. He patted his pockets and found a chocolate bar. "Look at that," he said to the creature. It tilted its head curiously. "Yeah, that's right," Ianto said. He opened the plastic foil. "This is for you." He kept an eye on Jack who slowly inched closer to the pteranodon. Ianto held the chocolate in its direction. "You want a bite?" It came a tentative step closer. "I bet you do," Ianto said. He removed the foil and threw the chocolate on the floor. The pteranodon shuffled closer and sniffed it. Then it ate the bar in one go.

Jack used that opportunity to strike. He grabbed one of the creature's ankles, intending to plunge the syringe in its thigh, but the pteranodon had other ideas. It screeched in protest, flapped its wings and flew up, taking Jack with it.

"Jack!" Ianto screamed. He ran after them, hearing Jack cry out happily before he used the syringe. "No, Jack, you'll fall!" Ianto shouted, but it was already too late. The pteranodon lost height, screeched and then dropped to the floor. Ianto thought he could hear something crack.

Silence.

"Jack!" Ianto called and ran over to them. He shoved the creature away to uncover Jack and checked his pulse, but the unnatural angle his head was lying at already told him everything he needed to know. "No," he whispered. "Jack." There was no pulse. He was dead.

Ianto backed away from him a few feet and sank to the floor. What was he supposed to do now? He stared at Jack's body, completely at a loss and strangely numb. He took a deep breath. "I have to call someone," he told himself and the best choice was, "Owen." Carefully, with trembling hands, he searched Jack's coat pockets and found his mobile. "Sorry," he whispered. "Sorry."

He turned away and went outside into the cool night air, not able to look at the body anymore. The area around the warehouse was abandoned as well. Nature had already started to take it back. The city lights seemed impossibly far away.

With tears in his eyes, Ianto found Owen's number in Jack's contacts and took a deep breath, bracing himself for the inevitable call. Just when he was about to, an arm snaked around him from behind, grabbing the mobile out of his hand. Ianto shoved his assailant back and heard a surprised grunt. He whirled around and placed a right hook. The other man fell, tangled in his blue greatcoat, and that was when Ianto recognized him.

"Stop it!" Jack said, both hands raised.

Ianto stumbled backwards and to the ground. "You're dead! I checked your pulse!"

"I know," Jack said calmly, keeping his hands raised. "I know. But I'm not."

"Who are you?" Ianto asked. "What are you?"

"Jack Harkness," he answered, "leader of Torchwood Three. I'm the guy you know, Ianto."

"You're not." Ianto shook his head. Jack got up and came towards him, but Ianto raised his hand. "No, stay there!"

"You're Torchwood, Ianto, you have to know that there are things that are beyond Earth."

Ianto got up, pointing one angry finger at Jack. "And they're dangerous!"

"Even the Doctor?"

"The ..." Ianto hesitated, then he slowly said, "Especially the Doctor."

"That's not true and you know it," Jack answered.

Ianto's palms and feet felt numb from kicking and hitting the door that refused him passage. The fire behind him was coming closer, the air thick with smoke and choking him ever so slowly. He knew that he would probably die here, because nobody would be able to override the short-circuited door mechanism and in the chaos that was the battle of Torchwood One against the Daleks and Cybermen, nobody would even care that Ianto was trapped in here. Nevertheless, the thought of Lisa trapped somewhere in this building, probably in danger of being converted into a Cyberman, kept him going. Suddenly, the door opened and Ianto looked into the dark eyes of a skinny, tall man wearing a pinstripe-suit. "There you go," he said as if the tower wasn't burning down around them. He pocketed a pen or … no, it wasn't a pen, it was some kind of device. Ianto knew immediately who he was. Everybody had seen CCTV footage of him today. It had been sent from one department to the other, accompanied by incredulous e-mails. He was here, he was really here and Ianto was standing in front of him, close enough to touch.

The Doctor was turning to run, but Ianto grabbed his hand. He was close enough to touch, close enough to hit and hurt, because the coincidence was just too big. The Doctor turning up in his time machine and then the invasion starting only a few hours later. Surely, the Torchwood Charter was right, no matter that he'd just saved Ianto's life – the Doctor was their enemy."You did this!" Ianto said. "You're responsible for this!"

"Why should I be?" the Doctor asked. He was standing still, staring at Ianto in disbelief. "Why would I do this to you?"

"It's not a coincidence. You turning up and then them."

Suddenly, the Doctor put a hand on Ianto's cheek, his forefinger pressing into his temple. Ianto couldn't move, even though he tried to. He gasped at the feeling of another mind caressing his and he got dizzy. The Doctor's cool hand on his face seemed to be the only thing keeping him upright. "You poor child," the Doctor said. "You brought this down on yourselves." He shook his head sadly and Ianto could hear a woman scream. It was Debbie Turner, begging her colleagues to believe her when she was dragged away. The Doctor leaned in as if to kiss him, but he just whispered, "She was right. You know deep down that she was right." He let go and Ianto stumbled. He braced himself against a wall. "Torchwood did this, Ianto Jones. Don't let them fool you." With that he was gone.

Jack shook his head. "The Doctor isn't our enemy, he's one of he most wonderful beings the universe ever created."

Ianto swallowed. "One of the most terrifying beings," he corrected.

"That, too," Jack said with a nod. "You met him. I can see that you met him. When he touches a life he leaves behind scars visible to those who bear them, too."

Ianto stared at Jack. "You ..."

"This … condition I'm in happened while I was with him. I died and then I woke up again." He smiled. "I don't know why, but maybe someday, I will." He became serious. "It's a secret, Ianto. Nobody is allowed to know."

"You're full of secrets."

"I'm afraid I am," Jack said with a nod. He cupped Ianto's cheek. "But you can trust me."

Ianto looked into Jack's eyes, deep and mysterious and so old, and suddenly, he wanted to kiss him. Jack seemed to read that wish because he leaned in and brushed his lips against Ianto's – imploringly, softly, carefully … and then Ianto came to his senses. He turned his head and took a step back. "I'm sorry," he said. He didn't quite know who he was apologizing to – Jack or Lisa.

"It's okay," Jack answered. "Really." He sighed. "Let's get that bird back into the Hub."

xxx

"It's Lisa," Ianto said the same evening, sitting on one of the upper levels of the main Hub with Jack, their feet dangling over the edge of the walkway while their new pet Myfanwy circled the water tower. "It's not you at all."

"You need time," Jack answered with a nod. "I understand that, Ianto."

"She doesn't even have a gravesite. Or at least none with her in it."

Jack bit his lip. There was nothing he could say to contradict that. It was true. It was likely that Lisa had been incinerated and her remains stored away somewhere in a UNIT facility. The grave her family would keep for her would be empty or UNIT had provided ashes. It was a practice Torchwood and UNIT shared. The storing away of dangerous corpses or their remains and the lying to relatives. Sometimes it disgusted Jack but there was just no other way.

"I think …," Ianto said and there were tears in his voice. "I keep thinking that I could have stopped it. If I had just supported Debbie."

Jack took his hand. "Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do. Even if you had stood by her, you would have ended the same as her."

"Maybe … maybe others would have joined us and we could have ..." He hesitated.

"What?"

Ianto looked at him. "I don't know."

"Believe me, you wouldn't have been able to stop this. Yvonne, everyone involved in that project, were too far gone. They didn't even listen to the Doctor."

Ianto sighed deeply and squeezed Jack's hand. "Maybe you're right."

Jack nodded. "Maybe … You will never know. So stop beating yourself up about it. Take it from someone who's made far too many mistakes."