Ianto could hear Jack's laughter resounding through the Hub and it made him smile. He wandered towards Jack's office and pushed open the door gently, placing two mugs of steaming hot chocolate down as he reached the desk.

They were the only ones left now, everyone else had gone home for the night and Jack had taken the opportunity to ring Martha and let her know the updates.

"Well any time you feel like leaving that fiancée of yours..." Jack laughed and trailed off. "Better go, Ianto's just turned up and he looks slightly annoyed that I'm propositioning you. Yeah, yeah... I'll tell him. Bye Martha."

Ianto smiled slightly as Jack put the phone down.

"Having fun?" He asked pretending to be a little annoyed at Jack's flirting, though he didn't really mind.

"Yeah, Martha says hi by the way," Jack replied, pulling one of the mugs towards him. "She still won't leave Tom."

"Ah, she doesn't know what she's turning down," Ianto grinned.

"Mm," Jack took a sip of the hot chocolate and made a noise of approval. "How do you manage to make these drinks taste so..."

"Orgasmic?" Ianto suggested.

"I was going to say fantastic, but orgasmic does do it more justice," Jack laughed.

"Well if I told you the secret I'd have to kill you," Ianto said.

"Damn," Jack shook a fist at him.

They sat in silence for a few moments, Jack idly tracing his fingers across his stomach without realising. Ianto noticed though and it made him smile.

"What?" Jack asked.

"You," Ianto shook his head. "You keep rubbing you stomach."

"Oh..." Jack quickly put the hand against the mug so he was warming both.

"You don't have to stop," Ianto said gently.

"Yes, I do," Jack sighed. "It's just a foetus Ianto. Until we know for certain whether it's going to live... it's not a baby."

Ianto glanced down at his own mug, nodding. He knew Jack was trying to keep their expectations low so it would hurt less if he lost the child, but he still couldn't help feeling they were pre-empting the worst case scenario.

"Can't you just imagine for a minute though what he's going to be like?" Ianto looked up at Jack again.

"Ianto..." Jack said gently. "It's nothing. You have to-"

"Surely you've thought about it though?" Ianto urged. "Had dreams about what he'd be like?"

It was Jack's turn to look down at his mug now.

~~

Jack had had many a dream about his past. Many about his future, usually without those he loved. The only time he ever had nice dreams though, was when he was pregnant.

He was sat on the Peninsula sand dunes, Ianto Jones sat beside him, holding his hand gently. A small brown haired boy with bright blue eyes toddled along in front of them, almost falling over as he headed towards his parents.

"Look!" The small boy said ecstatically, holding out a small purple flower.

"Oh wow!" Ianto took the flower from the boy and pulled him into his lap. "What a clever boy!"

"I found one for Mummy too!" The boy held out another flower towards Jack.

He knew it was a dream, but Jack still felt his heart melt as he reached out to take the flower.

~~

"No," Jack lied finally. "I've never thought about it. If I do then I don't know how I'll survive if we lose it."

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House still hadn't left Wilson's side. It had now been three days and he was beginning to suspect that the miracle cure was not going to work. Cuddy had been down several times in an attempt to get House to leave, but the maverick doctor had insisted he wasn't ready. He just needed a bit longer. Just in case.

"You're always going to want a bit longer."

House could almost hear Wilson talking, see the other man smiling. He felt like he was slowly dying inside. Nothing had ever hurt this much before. He would rather suffer through a million infarctions than live with this pain.

Wilson had always been there, right from the beginning. On his very first day House had treated Wilson the same way he treated everyone and yet the Oncologist had still become a firm friend.

~~

House had been working at Princeton Plainsboro a week when Cuddy sent him to the seminar. It was an utterly boring task, but he'd decided that since Lisa Cuddy was the only person on the planet who would hire him he would wait at least another three days before he started complaining.

As soon as he saw the young doctor smash the window House knew that his evening was about to get better.

They didn't see each other again after House had bailed the man out of jail. They had one drink as thanks, but that was it. However House was determined that this interesting person be kept close so that should the need arise he had a friend who could keep him entertained.

When House had been working at Princeton Plainsboro for two weeks, Cuddy turned up with the doctor that he'd bailed.

"Ah, Doctor House," Cuddy said. "This is Doctor Wilson, I believe you've met? He's going to be our new head of Oncology."

"Hey again," Wilson went pink and glanced down at his feet.

"Hey... so cancer?" House smiled slightly knowing how uncomfortable Wilson was. "You spend years with your patients to ultimately have them die. Kind of the opposite of what I do."

"Uh, yeah," Wilson scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I guess so."

Cuddy frowned at House, but he ignored her.

"Fancy a drink later," he didn't know what made him say it. Never figured it out, it was just something about Wilson. The first drink they'd had hadn't been anything special, just formality, but something about Wilson made House want to get to know him. Not that he would EVER admit that out loud.

"Yeah... sure..." Wilson seemed a little reluctant, but after they had had a drink that night in the bar not far from House's apartment they never left each other's side again.

~~

House smiled a watery smile at the memory. He held Wilson's hand more tightly between his own, willing the rush of warm blood to fill it. Still it did not and a little more of House died every time he felt the bitter sting of hope shattered.

Taking a deep breath House stood up and leant over, kissing Wilson briefly before taking his cane and limping slowly towards the door.

He knew that if he didn't leave now he would never summon the strength to do it. As he approached the door, House glanced back one last time, trying to ignore the healthy glow Wilson seemed to be giving off.

Too many times he had been deceived by the sunlight. Too many times had he got this far and then run back thinking the formula had finally worked.

"Goodbye Wilson," he said softly.

He almost didn't believe what he heard next. Thought it must be the hope causing him to hallucinate. After all he hadn't eaten or slept properly since the bus crash and his fractured skull needed time to heal properly.

But after that first initial deep breath came another and another. Gasps filled the room and House almost fell over in his desperate need to reach Wilson again.

"House?"