.~*~*~*~*~.

Fourteen.

.~*~*~*~*~.

"Never say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting"

Peter Pan

Owen snorted, shoving Jack' shoulder before leaning against him, "You're such a dick." He muttered, laughing as Jack kissed his head.

"It's true though." Jack grinned, sliding off the bed, "Fancy a drink?"

"Water." Owen mumbled, lying back against the bed and closing his eyes, "What time is it?"

Jack glanced at the clock, "Ten past six, I'll have to get going soon, let Ianto get home and sleep a bit." There had been a large rift flare the night before and Jack would have usually stayed in the Hub overnight to check all communication links but as he'd already made plans with Owen, and didn't want to let the man down, he had asked Ianto if he could man the Hub overnight and have the next day off. Jack headed into Owen's kitchen, washing a glass and filling it with water, he drank it slowly, glancing around the room and picking up the book on the table, some sci-fi novel, probably Owen's. Once he'd finished drinking Jack refilled the glass and took it through to the bedroom, placing it on Owen's bedside table, "I'm going to get dressed and head off, I'll see you later yeah?" He murmured.

Owen groaned and turned over, looking at Jack and yawning, "Sure thing." He mumbled, "I'll be in about nine, unless you need me earlier?"

"Nope, nine is fine." Jack said, unable to help his grin at the little rhyme as he glanced down at Owen's bare chest, hmm maybe he could be a little late in to the Hub… Jack's thoughts were cut short as his phone rang and Owen groaned again, turning over and dragging his duvet over his head. Jack grabbed his clothes off the chair he'd chucked them on last night and took them with him into the living room, closing Owen's bedroom door behind him before answering the phone.

Twenty minutes later he was dressed and in the Hub, analysing the papers Ianto handed him, "Sorry to have to call but UNIT said it was important. This is all they'd tell me. I think he wanted to speak to you personally."

"Perfect." Jack sighed before sending Ianto a grin, "Don't worry about calling me, it is what I'm here for." He reminded the man, picking up the phone, "You should head home, get some sleep."

Ianto nodded, "I'll make you a coffee before I go." He offered and Jack grinned as he dialled the number into the phone.

Jack had just hung up when Ianto came back in, "Everything okay?" The man asked, putting a mug of coffee down on the desk.

"Hmm… Have you heard from Martha recently?" Jack asked, picking up the mug and cradling it in his hands.

"She emailed a few days ago to ask how my shoulder was, why?"

Jack sighed, "You know the whole ATMOS thing yesterday? Well it was the Doctor who sorted it, apparently UNIT called him in. But when he left he took Martha with him…"

"She used to travel with him right?" Ianto asked and Jack frowned, "We did some research whilst you were gone." Ianto admitted, "But anyway, maybe she just went with him again."

Jack shook his head, "She wouldn't have gone without saying goodbye to her family. Not after… Everything." Jack trailed off, grateful that, although he looked confused, Ianto didn't push for answers. "She left her phone with the Doctor last time but they're not answering." Jack said quietly.

"Maybe they've gone too far away? No signal…"

"Nah, the phone got modified, should pick up signal anywhere. Her family's going to go crazy when they find out she's gone, they'll be terrified after…" Jack trailed off again, aware he was giving way too much away.

Ianto bit at his lip slightly, "I'm sure she's okay Jack… I mean she was with you on the valiant right, so she's obviously -"

"How do you know about that?" Jack asked, his voice tense as he stared at Ianto.

Ianto flushed slightly, "I… I did some research when you were gone. It's just you were on the news as a wanted terrorist and then suddenly the president of the United States was dead and…" He trailed off, looking awkward and Jack sighed. "Well I didn't find much, except you, Martha and the Doctor were all there when the prime minister got shot…"

"Don't look into this anymore okay?" Jack said quietly, "Some stuff… It's safer not to know." He honestly didn't know what it would do to Ianto if something got triggered, could he remembered what had happened that year when technically it had never happened to him at all? Jack didn't fancy chancing it.

Ianto looked thoroughly confused at this point but nodded anyway, "Sure, okay." He murmured.

"You should go home." Jack sighed, "Get some sleep."

"Are you sure? I can wait until the others get in if you want?"

Jack leant forward and squeezed Ianto's knee, "No, you get off. Rest in case we need you later." He murmured.

Ianto put his hand on top of Jack's for a moment before sliding off the desk, "I'll see you later Jack."

"Sleep tight," Jack smiled, picking up the phone as it rang, "Hello? Martha! Fish people what?" Ianto laughed, giving Jack a quick wave as he left the office.

.~*~*~*~*~.

Jack flopped down on Owen's sofa, turning on the television and wrapping his arm around Owen as the man sat next to him, they looked up as Ianto walked in, wearing jogging bottoms and a loose tee-shirt. "Hey, you sleep okay?" Jack asked.

"Like a baby… Well better than a baby because in my experience they don't really sleep all that well." Ianto smirked and Owen laughed. "So I found a decent looking flat. I'm going to see it tomorrow." Ianto said quietly, sitting down in the armchair.

Jack noticed Owen blink, looking surprised, "Oh…" The man murmured, "Well there's no rush. I mean… It's cool to have someone doing the washing up for a change." He added with a laugh.

"I hate to think what'll happen when I leave." Ianto teased back, "Coffee?"

"Please." Owen said, Jack just grinned up at Ianto, laughing as the man rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen, "Gonna be weird without him around." Owen muttered. Jack gave a small nod, wondering why he felt slightly glad at the fact that Ianto had found a flat. Owen leant against Jack, his fingers curling around the man's hand as he watched the television and Jack smiled, pressing a soft kiss to Owen's hair, "You okay?" Owen asked quietly, not looking at Jack.

"Yeah… Why wouldn't I be?"

Owen shrugged, "You just seem kind of tense."

"Tired." Jack replied, wondering when Owen had started to figure him out quite so well.

"You should sleep sometime." Owen chuckled.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Hmm…" He mumbled, closing his eyes as he rested his head against Owen's, pulling a face when the phone rang and Owen pushed him away, standing up and moving off into the bedroom where the sound seemed to be coming from. Jack sat up again, stretching his neck and wincing as it clicked painfully, he gratefully accepted the mug of coffee Ianto handed him a few minutes later and sipped at it slowly, resisting the urge to yawn, he really hadn't been lying when he'd said he was tired.

"So what was Martha saying about fish people?" Ianto asked, sitting back down in the armchair and sliding his feet up under himself.

Jack chuckled, "Well the TARDIS flew off to this planet, it does that sometimes you know, just takes itself off and if you're inside then you're stuck going with it. That's the trouble with sentient spaceships I suppose… Anyway so Martha said they ended up in this mass war between some descendants of humans and some people with like fish heads or something. She said she'd email me a picture…" Jack laughed, looking up as Owen appeared in the doorway, the phone hanging from his hand and a lost expression on his face, "Everything okay?"

"My mum's dead…"

.~*~*~*~*~.

Jack pulled up in front of Owen's flat, walking briskly up the stairs and pulling out the spare key he'd taken with him earlier, he let himself into the flat quietly, going straight into the living room. Owen was curled up in the armchair, fast asleep, with a blanket draped over him. Ianto, who was sat on the sofa reading, looked over as Jack sat next to him, "How's he doing?" Jack asked quietly, wishing he had been around for Owen, and hating how Torchwood business always seemed to call him away at the worst possible times.

"Seems alright, didn't want to talk about it. He did say he'd have to go to the funeral for his aunt's sake if nothing else." Ianto said, "Did you sort out whatever the problem was?"

"There's a spaceship above Britain, threatening to take over the planet. UNIT's taken over negotiations for now but it's going to be a long week." Jack sighed, glancing over at Owen and hoping he would be able to find the time to support the man through this. "What time's your flat viewing tomorrow?" He asked Ianto.

"Five, but I can rearrange if you need me to."

Jack nodded, knowing it was a possibility, "I think I'm going to get him to bed." He murmured, standing up and shaking Owen's shoulder gently.

"Hmm? Jack, you're back." Owen mumbled, sitting up properly and shrugging the blanket off, "Is everything okay?"

"It'll be fine." Jack said, not wanting to go into details. "Come on." He added, wrapping an arm around Owen and pulling him to his feet, leading him through to the bathroom and handing him his toothbrush, "How are you feeling?" Jack asked quietly, watching Owen closely.

"Fine." The man replied, his shoulders tense as he began to brush his teeth. Jack sighed, squeezing his shoulder and taking the toothbrush off him once he was done, adding some more toothpaste so that he could do his own teeth, he sighed again as Owen left the bathroom without him. Owen was curled up on the side of the bed when Jack reached the room, he quickly stripped down to his briefs and slid in next to the man, wrapping his arms around him tightly. "I'm fine." Owen mumbled again and Jack kissed the top of his head, not saying anything. "It's not like she was a fantastic mother anyway." Owen added quietly, rolling so that he was facing Jack, "I hated her Jack, I really did so… Why does it hurt?"

Jack tightened his grip on the man, trying to figure out what to say, "Your mother treated you very cruelly, it's understandable that you'd feel angry towards her, but she is still your mum and you do still remember the good times before your father left… It's not surprising that it hurts Owen."

"I guess now there's no chance she'll ever… That we'll ever figure it out." Owen muttered finally, "That she'll ever be able to apologise for everything she said."

"I'm sorry babe." Jack whispered, resting his head against Owen's. The man gave a small grunt, moving to kiss Jack and taking the man's hand, sliding it down the front of his pants.

.~*~*~*~*~.

Jack ran his hand over his face, staring down into the Hub where Owen was moodily stabbing at the keys on his laptop. "Are you okay?" Ianto asked quietly, coming up behind the man and handing him a mug of coffee.

"Not really… Unit need me in London." Jack explained.

"Ah." Ianto's eyes also landed on Owen, "When?"

"Tomorrow, for at least a week."

Ianto sighed, watching Jack closely, "The funeral…"

"I know! I know… I just don't see how I can get out of this. It's not something I can just send one of you lot to do for me…" Jack growled, running his hand over his cheek, "But how am I supposed to just let him down?"

"I…" Ianto chewed on his lip, "Owen understands, he knows what it's like…"

Jack moved over to the sofa, slumping down onto it, "He didn't want to go to the funeral alone." He mumbled, feeling guilty for even considering not being there… But what else could he do?

"Well Tosh or I could always go with him, I know it's not the same but… He'll understand Jack, you know he will."

"Yes but understanding isn't the same as liking." Jack muttered, looking back out of the window, down at Owen.