A/N: I know my timeline isn't canon in this fic. I wanted Ianto to be away as long as he was but I also wanted them to come back to the aftermath of COE. Don't forget it's AU. In my universe, COE took place more than three years after Exit Wounds which by the way, Owen and Tosh survived.

Lois pressed a button underneath the reception desk and an opening appeared in the wall behind her.

"Still love you secret entrances I see," Jack chuckled.

He followed Gwen through the door and found himself in large open plan office. Several workstations were arranged haphazardly around the room and one or two of them were still occupied by smartly dressed personnel busily tapping away at computers. The set up reminded Ianto of Torchwood One and Gwen ignored the workers, much as Ms Hartman would have ignored him in the old days. She made her way over to a breakout area, consisting of a coffee table, several comfortable chairs and, most importantly as far as Ianto was concerned, a coffee machine. He gazed at it longingly.

"Come and sit down," she said, "I can see you'd love a coffee Ianto. Plus, I'd like a moment or two to catch up with all of you before you meet everyone else. Owen and the others are assembled in the conference room upstairs and Tosh and Martha are on their way over. As I said, Tosh is on maternity leave."

Ianto gave a little chuckle at that.

"You know, I can't believe she's pregnant," he said.

"Actually she's not. Not anymore."

"Huh? Oh, Oh I see, shit, that's terrible."

"What is?"

"She lost the baby."

"No, she didn't."

"but you said...."

"No, I said she was on maternity leave."

Jack frowned. "You're saying she went full term, aren't you? How the hell can that be? How long have we been away?"

"Ah, erm, yeah, about that." John stumbled over his words, "I er, I was going to tell you. Honestly I was. I was just... waiting for the right moment."

"Tell me what, John" Jack growled angrily.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay. I told you my aim is off these days." He gave his wrist a little shake, holding the manipulator up to his ear, "I think it needs a service."

"How. Fucking. Long?!"

"Erm, A year," John smirked. He shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry," he muttered, though he didn't sound at all sorry.

The immortal glared at him before turning his gaze on Gwen, annoyance morphing into delight as he graced her with a huge grin, "So, Tosh's baby?" he said.

"She's called Kiki," she chuckled, "she's four months old and a little cutie."

"Four months?....."Jack paused, "but that must mean..."

"She's was pregnant before you went away? Yeah she was."

"Shit, how the hell did that happen?"

She raised an eye-brow at him.

"Seriously, Jack. Do I need to draw you a diagram."

"I mean," he replied, rolling his eyes, "how did she have the time to meet someone and get pregnant. She only ever mixed with the three of us and I'm certain you're not the father, even for Torchwood that would be a little out there," he laughed, "I know I'm not, so that only leaves O..........." he paused, "oh!"

Gwen grinned. "Yeah, I know. Turns out they'd been at it for months. They didn't want to say anything," she glanced at Ianto nervously, "with everything else that was going on Tosh didn't want to upset you."

"Owen?" Ianto exclaimed, "Owen is the father of Tosh's baby?" He shook his head and laughed, "I mean I knew she liked him but..........Are you sure we haven't crossed over into an alternative reality or something?"

Jack and John both looked up sharply, matching expressions of horror on their faces. They held their breaths as John slowly flipped open his wrist strap and fiddled with it. After a moment or two he let out the breath and relaxed.

"No, we haven't crossed the void," he said.

"Thank goodness for that," Jack grinned, "So," he said, changing the subject, "I'm dying to meet your team Gwen."

"Didn't I say, they're not my team?" she replied, "I'm not the one in charge."

"Then who is?"

"His name is Leon, Captain Leon Jackson." She paused, "he's..........he's a UNIT captain, Jack."

Jack's face dropped, "UNIT?" he said. He stood up and pointed an accusing finger her, "Fuck it, Gwen," he yelled, "You let UNIT take over, you let them walk into Torchwood, my Torchwood and take over."

"It's not like that," she shouted back, "you weren't here and it's not your Torchwood anymore so don't start yelling at me."

Ianto inwardly sighed. Bloody hell he thought. Nothing ever changes, one minute they were eye-fucking each other and the next they're fighting, showing him up in front of everyone by flaunting their unresolved (he hoped,) sexual tension. John gave his hand a squeeze and he pulled it away more sharply than he'd intended. The former time agent looked hurt and Ianto did feel bad about that but he was growing a little tired of having John read him so easily all the time.

"If anything, Torchwood took over UNIT," Gwen went on, too focused on Jack to notice the exchange between the other two men.

She took a deep breath. "Let me explain," she began, "It all started when the children stopped....."

As Gwen told them everything that had happened in those five days that rocked the world, they listened spellbound, their shock and anger growing with each revelation. She told them how it had begun soon after John and Jack had left, the three remaining members of Torchwood targeted even before they knew the reason for the children's strange behaviour. She told how the powers that be had smuggled a bomb into the hub, using the body of a blow fish the team had picked up on an anonymous tip off. She recounted how they had only just escaped with their lives when Owen had discovered the device during the autopsy and how they had fled, shot at from all sides by unseen snipers. She explained that they had split up, ridding themselves of all technology so that they couldn't be tracked, abandoning the SUV and throwing away their mobile phones. She told them how they had reconvened in London, finding an abandoned warehouse and stealing the equipment they needed to set up a new operations base, fighting not only the alien threat but the combined forces of the Government, UNIT and the army. She told them how they had found Lois, an insider who was so sickened by what she'd heard, that she had agreed to spy for them. She paled, feeling nauseous as she related how they'd learned that the authorities planned to hand over ten percent of the world's children, picking on the weakest members of society, the sick, the poor and the disadvantaged, rounding them up from schools and hospitals and turning their guns on parents and teachers who refused to cooperate. She told them how Martha and her new husband Tom, on honeymoon in South America, not knowing the full story but knowing enough to try to protect the children, had stood in front of the doors of a missionary school and refused to let the UNIT soldiers past, she wept openly as she impressed upon them how heroic Tom had been as he was cut down in cold blood in front of his new bride. Her face shone with pride as she told how they had led a resistance of parents, hiding as many children as they could in barns and warehouses around the country. Finally, she told them how, when all had seemed lost, the children had let out a high pitched scream and just like that, it was all over.

"It was almost an anti-climax," she said, "one minute we were fighting for our lives, having the children ripped from our arms by soldiers with guns, and the next it all just stopped. We found out later it was your Doctor, Jack. He had worked out that the frequency the aliens used to contact us was harmful to them. He used some kind of sonic device to reflect it back on them."

Jack gave a little chuckle.

"He does love his sonic screwdriver," he said.

"Well, whatever it was it worked. The threat's over now but it has changed things forever. How can it not change things when there were troops on our streets, shooting at ordinary parents and teachers who were doing nothing more than protecting their children? People are angry, very angry. Governments all over the world have been brought down. In some parts of the world, there's still a lot of civil unrest but we were luckier in the UK. The interim Government acted quickly. Along with a lot other measures, they disbanded UNIT and gave the soldiers a choice, move into other army troops or join with Torchwood and make a new, bigger and better alien fighting organisation, one that's above the Government, beyond the police and all that other stuff you used to say, Jack. That's what I meant when I said we've taken over UNIT not the other way around. Most of our new personnel were with UNIT but they're Torchwood now."

Jack didn't look convinced but he nodded thoughtfully,

"I think it's time we met this Captain Jackson of yours."

"Fine," Gwen replied, "just please try to have an open mind, you'll like him, Jack, if you let yourself." She held out her hand to Ianto, "you ready," she asked. Ianto looked a little bemused but took the hand and nodded.

"Let's go," he said.

Ianto did a quick headcount as he entered the conference room. The large table which dominated the room seated ten people with one or two seats to spare. He locked eyes with a certain scrawny looking young doctor and the two smiled at each other before the man rose from his chair and strode over to him. He held out his hand which Ianto grasped, finding himself pulled into a back slapping hug.

"Good to have you back, Tea Boy,"

"Really?"

"Yeah," the doctor chuckled, "maybe now we'll get a decent cup of coffee around here."

Ianto rolled his eyes and laughed, giving the other man a friendly punch on the shoulder.

"What about you, you sly dog?"

He ducked his head and smiled,

"Yeah, I know. I can hardly believe it myself," he gave Jack a nod and shook his hand, "Tosh is on her way over here with Martha so maybe we can all catch up later. If you're up to it, of course. In the meantime, I think it's time you met our leader, Jack."

At that an older, grey haired man in an army uniform stepped forward, holding out his hand first to Ianto and John and then to Jack.

"Leon Jackson," he said, "It's good to finally meet you Captain Harkness, I've heard a lot about you. When you've settled back in, I'd be happy to have you back on the team if you're interested - and you of course Ianto. I understand your coffee is legendary."

"Please, call me Jack," the immortal responded, "I'm not sure what our plans are yet but we'll certainly think about it and let you know, Captain Jackson."

"And you must call me Leon," the other man said, "Let me introduce you to everyone."

Leon Jackson moved around the table, standing behind each of the occupied chairs and introdcing them to Jack and the others. He explained that each of the ten people around the table headed up a team in field operations, archives or support personnel. As Chief Medical Officer Owen led a team of doctors and nurses who were responsible for looking after employees' everyday medical needs as well as carrying out alien autopsies and dealing with emergencies. Gwen was a Leading Field Agent, whilst Tosh had a position in Technical Support waiting for her when she returned from maternity leave.

"...and that's everyone as far as the management team goes," Leon finished up "apart from....."

"Apart from me," said a voice from the doorway, "Sorry, I'm late, I was just getting a new guest settled in the cells. How are you Captain Cheesecake?"

Jack's polite smile suddenly widened.

"Mickey Mouse," he beamed, "Ianto, this is Mickey the Idiot; we travelled together with the Doctor for a while. What are you doing here, Mickey?"

Mickey Smith grew serious for a moment.

"I met up with the doctor a few months ago in the other reality," he said. "When I heard what the 456 did, I had to skip across to lend a hand, didn't I?"

"What did you say," Jack paled and he grabbed the back of a chair, "what did you call them?"

"Huh?" Mickey frowned, "the 456? We don't know what they're called. That's the frequency they used to contact us, it's the only name we have for them."

"Oh my god," Jack breathed, "I........." he ran a hand through his hair, his eyes darting from Mickey to Gwen and Owen before landing on Ianto.

"Jack, what is it?" the Welshman asked.

"I'm sorry, Ianto. It's all my fault. All of it, Martha's husband, the children, it's all because of me."

"What do you mean? How can it be because of you?"

Jack gulped and shook his head,

"I can't do this now," he said.

He made for the door pushing past Mickey in his hurry to get away. Ianto followed but by the time he'd reached the door, Jack was already half way down the corridor.

"Jack, where are you going?"

The immortal stopped and slowly turned around.

"I'm sorry Ianto, I can't stay, not now."

"You're.....You're leaving me?"

"No. I'll come back for you, I'll always come back for you, you know that, but I have to get away."

Ianto glared, his eyes blazing with fury.

"And what? You expect me to be just sitting around waiting for you....just like before. Well no, Jack. Not this fucking time," he glanced back at the door, "I've got options this time so if you go now that's it as far as I'm concerned, I won't have you back."

Jack looked away. He breathed heavily for a few moments, then turned a stony faced gaze on the young Welshman.

"Then I'm truly sorry,"

He turned away and was gone before Ianto could say anything else. The Welshman leaned heavily against the wall and felt a sob catch his throat. An arm snaked around his waist and he turned to bury his head in John's neck, the familiar scent of dark chocolate and cardamom calming him.

"Change of plan," John said, looking back at Owen, "We'll catch up another day, okay."

He brought his hand up and ran his fingers through the short hairs on the back on Ianto's neck.

"Let's get out of here," he soothed.