Title: Understanding

Slash: Jack/Ianto Jack/OC Gwen/Rhys Ianto/OC

Spoilers: Set 7 (Earth) Years after COE

Summary: It's hard to carry on without your lover; yet life goes on and love is never far away.

A/N: Thank you to those who have followed/favorited, even bigger thanks to PCJanto and Aya2013 for your reviews.

Reviews are loved and help me to write quicker, thank you everyone for reading, hope you enjoy this update :)

Chapter twenty four

Ianto dropped his phone onto the counter; he hadn't noticed the figure lingering in the doorway. His body began to shake as more tears forced their way out; Ianto Jones was falling uncontrollably apart. This had happened only twice before, firstly when Lisa died...his beautiful Lisa, Jack had been there for him, he had given him meaning again, saved him from himself. The second was when Jack had left to go off with the Doctor, that time he had the friendship of Tosh and the medical assistance of Owen. He wondered who would save him now? Did he deserve being saved again? He'd been dead...he should've stayed that way, why was he dragged back to life? Why come back only to suffer?

Wordlessly Scarlett strode over to him, turned him around and held onto him, her heart shattering as the Welshman came apart on her. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she had heard voices and it wasn't until she was in the doorway that she realised Ianto was on the phone. She tried not to listen but what she had overheard indicated that there was so much that Ianto had left out. She became determined now, whatever it was she would be there for Ianto.

Eventually the shaking had subsided and the tears had ceased to fall. Scarlett broke the embrace and entwined her hand with his; she led him upstairs and into the bathroom. She ran him a bath adding scented oils to act as a relaxant before turning her attention back to him. She slowly undressed him, Ianto's body remained for the most part unresponsive, moving only to aid in undressing, he was completely empty of everything. Checking the temperature she turned off the taps and indicated for Ianto to get in.

As he lowered himself into the water he felt his muscles slowly begin to relax, he smiled gratefully at Scarlett, she paused to smile back before leaving the room. Ianto sighed and sunk further into the warm water, the scent of the oil helping to clear his mind, the bubbles soothing his tense muscles. He closed his eyes and gave over to his senses. When he opened them again he saw a steaming cup resting on the side of the bath and that 4 candles had also been lit. She was always looking out for him, even though he had done nothing to deserve such loyalty. He took a sip of his coffee and smiled at the quality, she was the only person he knew of that could make coffee to almost rival his own. As he set his cup back on the side Scarlett wondered back into the bathroom placing a warmed towel over the radiator. "I'm sorry that it will never be as good as yours." Ianto reached out and lightly grabbed hold of her wrist pulling her over to him.

"You're coffee is a beautiful as you," they met each other in a tender kiss. "Thank you for doing this, it's really helped me to relax. I'm sorry that I haven't been the best boyfriend to you, but I promise I'm going to change that, I care about you." Their eyes connected for what seemed like eternity, conversations going unspoken between the two. He cares about me, what does that even mean? Does he care for me like I care for him? Or the way I care for Charlie? I'm in love with this man and I can't escape the feeling that he is a million miles from loving me. But maybe, just maybe he does love me; he just needs to admit it to himself before he can really feel something.

"I'll leave you to finish your bath," with that she pressed a kiss to his forehead and left him to relax. Wondering into the bedroom she flicked on the bedside lamps and closed the curtains. She turned the television on and flicked through the channels, once she had settled on one she got undressed and climbed into bed. As an afterthought she got back out of bed and pulled out a pair of Ianto's boxers that she kept in the bedside table next to where he often slept. It was a practical solution. She placed them on the bottom of the bed before wandering down into the kitchen to get them both a glass of water. As she reached the top of the stairs she was greeted by the view of Ianto dressed in only a towel. She stared at his arse as he bent over the bath to pull the plug out, and smiled as he delicately cleared everything away to its rightful place. Tearing her eyes away she went back into the bedroom to wait for him.

The bath had really helped Ianto sort out his mind, yes Jack would now be back in his life but no that did not mean anything really had to change. The only difference would be his visits to see Cadi, and although she is his biologically- the thought still makes his head hurt, Jack and Andrew are her parents and that is the way which he wants things to stay. He would rather be more of an uncle figure, he was more used to that, more comfortable with it. He just didn't know how to tell Scarlett about it, he decided that he would not say anything until the trail two months were up. At that point something more solid would be arranged with regards to Cadi and that would be an appropriate time to mention her.

Happy that the bathroom was clean he made his way to the bedroom, water dripping from him marking his footsteps. He placed the coffee cup which he had carried through with him on the side before removing the towel from his waist and drying himself off, not minding that Scarlett was watching his every move. He pulled on the underwear that Scarlett had put out for him and smiled in thanks at her. Just on queue Charlie started scratching at the back door to be let out. "Be back in a moment," he picked up the cup and went downstairs returning a few moments later having let Charlie out in the garden and got him back in. Sliding into bed he was suppressed as he was pulled into an earth shattering kiss. Getting his breath back he looked quizzically at his girlfriend, "what was that for?"

"Being your sexy self," she winked at him turning the TV and her bedside lamp off. Turning his light off, he put all of his attention on Scarlett and entwined his body with hers. Tonight he was going to show her how sorry he was for being so emotionally vacant.