A/N Sorry this has taken so long and if you are still with me, I promise I will try to get the next update soon. Please read and review, my muse is feeling unappreciated.
After he had set the second scan to run, and to rerun at random intervals until they told it otherwise just to make sure, Ianto Jones headed down to the vaults. Jake and Thomas had headed off to the location Patrick had pinpointed, with specific PDA software, and instructions to call in if they needed a change. Clyde had also gone off, to set up his own surveillance on the area. The young man had shown a positive talent for undercover work that had surprised Ianto, but apparently not Jack. Meanwhile Patrick, with the help, willing or not, of John Hart, was checking the hub from top to bottom for listening devices, bugs of various types, and Jack was on the phone, trying to raise some of his own sources. After more than a hundred years in Cardiff, his lover had sources in places he didn't even want to think about. Passing food through the slots to the various denizens of the lower levels left Ianto too much time to think.
He tried not to think that Jack was deliberately assigning him jobs that kept him in the hub, he really didn't. But ever since he came back, he hadn't had so much as a weevil hunt. Yes, it made sense for him to handle the internal computer scans, with Patrick and Jake busy recalibrating equipment and trading notes on what they were scanning for. It made perfect sense to send Jake and Thomas out together since, as Jack had said when he had looked at him, the two of them had gone home last night and not been used as a punching bag. It didn't make him any happier to be stuck in the hub. So, he went about his normal duties and tried not to think about it. Instead he stood watching Janet and the baby weevil. The little one seemed to have suffered no ill effects from the night before and Janet was, as always, a good foster mother. Janet looked at him and let out a mournful keen. He wondered just what she was thinking and what was happening to the baby's family where ever they were. "Don't worry old girl, Jack will find them," he said to her quietly as he turned and left the vaults. He had just reached the quiet corridor that ran through the archives that housed various artifacts and was contemplating whether he wanted to feed the fish before he went up, when he heard the familiar scuff of shoes.
Jack looked a little tired, and Ianto was fairly sure he must have been dealing with some of his more regular sources. He always seemed to be a little worn after dealing with official branches of the government, and anything having the word Ministry in the title exhausted him far more than a long chase followed by a double weevil hunt and a night of inventive sex, as he would have every reason to know. Before Ianto could contemplate further, or even say anything, Jack was in front of him. "I was starting to wonder where you had gone."
"Don't worry, Jack, I haven't left my safe little cave," he said, perhaps more sarcastically than he meant. It was a statement almost worthy of Owen, he thought but Jack looked wounded. "I had to feed the residents," he said, hoping that Jack would just let it go. He really should have known better.
"I am not deliberately keeping you off mission, this time," Jack said, putting both of his large hands on his lover's shoulders and pressing against him. "Well, actually Chris does have you on light duty, but regardless I want Jake to take the first run at this in case he and Patrick need to tinker with the frequency. Don't worry, you'll get your turn sitting in an uncomfortable car with stale coffee and bad take away. Unless we get really lucky that is," Jack said, stepping closer and backing the younger man against the cold stone wall.
"I live for it, Sir," Ianto said with typical wit, trying not to get distracted by Jack so close to him, his pheromones overwhelming him with their familiar scent. "So were you looking for me in general or did you have something for me to do?"
"Actually I was looking for you for something specific. I hadn't seen you in hours and I need to wash the taste of bureaucrat out of my mouth." Jack said, seductively.
"Ah, coffee is it," he said, though his breath caught a little at the sound.
"No, not coffee, Mr. Jones," he said leaning in for a kiss. "Gods you taste good and you've made me an addict, I just can't get enough," he whispered against Ianto's lips.
"I would have thought you did enough 'tasting' this morning," Ianto said, trying to keep himself in work mode. It was hard. When they had returned from London, they had slept for two days. Then Jack had made beautiful and slightly kinky love to him on the open terrace of their new flat while the city slept beneath them. Jack had showed him with kisses and caresses how much he meant, how much he was loved even more than words. It had been one perfect moment.
The next morning he had been a bit tired, and joked that Jack had worn him out. Any other time the immortal would have agreed or offered to tire him further. Instead he had bundled him gently back to bed with an admonition to rest. From there Jack had been gentle and solicitous, and being Jack he had still been very physical. There were plenty of kisses and cuddles but nothing more, even when he had tried to press the point.
At first he had put it down to stress or that he was trying to catch up with work but he had begun to feel that while he had no doubt that Jack, the man who had pushed, cajoled and waited for a decade, the one who held him through the nausea and the misery of his treatments, loved him, that he no longer wanted him as a lover. He began looking for signs, questioning his comings and goings. The more uncomfortable he became, the more Jack treated him like a crystal vessel, likely to shatter at any moment.
Finally in despair, torn between exactly what he had put himself through it all for and desperate to find out what he could do to bring it back, he had confronted his lover. It had been a revelation to discover that Jack had been beating himself up for rushing the younger man. But that was Jack all over, always taking all the responsibility on his own shoulders, a willing Atlas, whether he deserved it or no. He had been certain that Ianto had not been well enough and only humoring him. The misunderstanding had led straight to bed and Jack, as tactile as he was had been making up for lost time ever since.
This was how he found himself, usually the voice of discretion, letting his formidable resistance down in the quiet, empty corridor in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday with the world threatening to fall in on them at any moment. "Jack," he breathed, giving the short name two syllables as he tried to put his passion fogged brain back in order. "Please, we…"
"We don't know when we'll have time," the older man whispered as he sank to the floor in front of him. "I need you." Those three words sent caution and sense to the wind as he lover's hand did something very clever and pleasant and he found himself gasping for breath as with one hand he tried to find purchase on the stone behind him, the other twining in the dark hair. Jack was proving yet again that his mouth was clever with more than words. He opened his mouth but the only sounds that emerged were comprehensible only in that way of lovers as the older man continued to ply his quest to completely undo him.
Ianto lost track of where he was, what he was thinking and just allowed himself to give over to nothing but the feel of Jack's mouth on him, the slight rasp of stubble against his hip, and the silky hair he twined around his fingers. There was no stopping now, not that he would if he could, it just felt too good. Jack Harkness could do things with his mouth that were probably illegal in parts of this or any other world. Ianto felt the blood rushing from his head and his knees try to give way, and probably would had his lover's hands on his hips not held him firmly in place as the corridor swam before his eyes. Jack pulled back and smiled up at Ianto, now boneless against the wall. With gentle hands, Jack had begun to pull his lover's impeccable appearance back together when the applause started.