A/N. Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter, i do appreciate them. The next couple of chapters are going to be about Christmas, so i'm staying away from drama, well there maybe some personal drama, but nothing serious. I can't be mean at Christmas. This chapter is the planning of what they are going to do and it also gives a little insight into what they were all doing the previous Christmas when they weren't together. Next chapter will be set on Christmas Eve . :) If anyone wants to give me any suggestions about what they might buy each other than please leave me a review or PM me as i'm a little stuck for some of them. Thank you and enjoy.

Chapter 35.

The next couple of weeks after the events with the Wallace brothers, were pretty uneventful. They had been out a few times weevil hunting, and a strange piece of technology had come through the Rift, which they were still working on, but other than that it had been quiet. The five team members were sitting in the boardroom, fresh cups of coffee in front of them, enjoying this lull in Rift activity.

'As it's nearly Christmas, we should get a tree to put up in here.' said Gwen.

'As long as it's a plastic one, because I am not cleaning up pine needles for the next week.' replied Ianto.

'It doesn't matter what sort it is, it would just brighten the room up and help everyone get in the Christmas spirit. It is the first Christmas we'll be sharing.' Gwen continued. 'We should do something, maybe on Christmas Eve.'

'That sounds good.' agreed Molly. 'We could have a meal or something, strictly no work talk.'

'I can bring Rhys and Mary too.'

'I have Jess on Christmas Eve, so she would have to come along too.'

'You sorted things out with Kate finally?' Molly asked turning to Jamie.

'Kind of, she is at least talking to me now. Jess will be no trouble, in fact she'll probably spend most of her time playing with Mary, she loves children. I have a feeling she's going to be a teacher or nursery worker when she's older.'

'Sounds good to me,' said Gwen. 'She's at an age now where she on the go constantly, so anything that keeps her occupied is fine by me. What do think Jack?'

Jack thought about this for a moment. 'You know, it's been a long time since I've done anything like this. Sure why not. What's the Rift predictor showing though, no point in organising something if there's going to be a spike.'

'It looks ok for Christmas Eve, not so good for Christmas Day though. There's a potential spike late afternoon.'

'So all we need now is somewhere to have this get together, it can't be here if Jess and Mary are going to be coming.' reasoned Ianto.

'We can do it at my place,' said Jamie. 'I have the biggest place, and I don't mind cooking, as long as I have some help.' he said pointedly looking in Molly's direction.

'I will prepare the stuff, but you have to cook it. My culinary skills are not that good.'

'This is sounding great,' enthused Gwen. 'Hopefully a lot less stressful than last year.'

'Why? What happened last year?' asked Ianto.

'We had a family get together what with it being Mary's first Christmas. Rhys's bright idea.' said Gwen rolling her eyes. 'I'm surprised war didn't erupt. My mum and Rhys's mum were constantly sniping at each other. I honestly thought after we were married they would get on better, but no, after Mary was born they went back to their old ways. Each trying to outdo the other with presents and things. Never again. What did you all do?'

'I spent the day at work.' said Jamie. 'I always have Jess Christmas Eve, although Kate did say I could go over on Christmas Day, but that's an offer I never took up. It would be too weird.'

Jack sat listening to the others, it was nice to hear them talking about the more normal things in life, but he couldn't help but remember that this time last year he had been alone with only his memories to keep him company. He wished that he had known sooner that Ianto was still alive and that he could have been here with him. He was intrigued to find out what he had been up too.

'What about you Ianto?' Jack asked. 'I know you were living differently last year.'

At Jack's question Molly started giggling quietly, although it was loud enough for the others to hear and give her quizzical looks. Ianto, however blushed slightly.

'Something you'd like to share with the group Molly? Asked Jack.

'Well, it's just…I'm not sure how well Ianto remembers last Christmas Eve.'

'Hey,' said Ianto indignantly, 'I was not as drunk as you like to make out.'

'Right, because you usually walk through the streets of Cardiff at 2am singing Jingle Bells.' The others started to laugh at Molly's words, while Ianto blushed a little redder.

'I had three glasses of punch, that was it.'

'You didn't see how many spirits Stacey put in that punch, why do you think I only had one.' Molly was smiling at the memory. 'It's a ten minute walk from Stacey's house where the party was to the flat, and it took us over half an hour because I had to prop him up as we walked. I'm just thankful we didn't have to go up any stairs.' Gwen and Jamie were still laughing, even Jack was smiling at the though of Ianto being drunk, but the smile Molly noticed didn't quite reach his eyes and she briefly wondered whether talking about this was the right thing. When with the others they rarely talked about what they did in the year before Jack came back and Torchwood reformed, because they were well aware that Jack and Gwen had been under the impression that Ianto was dead and so it didn't seem right to talk about it unless they were alone. The question had been asked though and it was starting to get a little personal between Ianto and Molly.

'Is that how you want to play it,' said Ianto, turning in his seat so that he was looking directly at Molly. 'Why don't you tell them why you were hiding in a closet.'

It was Molly's turn to blush as everyone's gaze now turned to her. 'I wasn't hiding exactly, I was avoiding someone who was trying to get me under the mistletoe.'

'Who?' asked Gwen. 'I take it, it wasn't someone you liked.'

'No, his name was Ryan and he was a total creep. I was in the hallway and I saw him coming, so I ducked into the cupboard under the stairs to avoid him. Anyway you got in there with me.' There was a brief silence before Molly said. 'I've just realised how that sounded. It was completely innocent.'

Ianto laughed, 'I saw you go in there, I wanted to know what you were doing.'

'Didn't anyone notice the two of you disappearing.' said Jamie.

'Well, we were spotted coming out, so some people did get the wrong idea, but that actually worked in my favour because I never saw Ryan after that.'

'Stacey certainly knew how to throw a party.'

'Yeah, maybe we should crash this years.' Molly smiled, although it was with a hint of sadness. She still kept in touch with Stacey, but only occasionally. There were always the inevitable work questions and it was hard enough keeping the truth from one person, but in a whole room of ex colleagues it would be a nightmare. Plus they would ask about why they had left and Molly had no idea how she would even begin to cover that.

'Going back to this year then,' started Jamie, 'are we all agreed that we will come to mine for Christmas Eve, barring an unscheduled alien invasion?' The others nodded, thinking that this would be a nice normal thing to do, which was unusual for them.

'Oh, I just thought of something.' Molly said. 'I have some pictures of last year, maybe I'll find them out.' The others, apart from Ianto, started to laugh again.

'You wouldn't dare.' said Ianto.

Molly just grinned and then got up out of her seat and hurried out of the boardroom to continue her work at her computer.