It was late into the evening before Ianto even stopped to think about Jack again, after spending most of the afternoon cleaning the house top to bottom and sulking. He always cleaned when he felt out of control, and this situation with Jack had him feeling completely perplexed. Jack had always been so open with him, never been afraid of facing things together. And yet by the mention of one name, Jack had shut down, blocked him out. Ianto couldn't understand it. He slumped onto the sofa, laying his head back for a matter of moments until his mobile started ringing shrilly. He groaned wearily as he reached for it,

"Gwen?"

"Ianto" Gwen was clearly tipsy, "Can you come pick us up? We may have had a few too many beverages"

"Um… yeah, of course" he said resignedly, "Where are you?"

"At the Hilton, their bar is so classy! We, sadly, are not right now"

"Okay. I'll be there in 20 minutes"

Peeling himself up off the sofa, he grabbed his keys and headed out the door.

Ianto pulled his Audi up in front of the Hilton, shooting Gwen a quick text to say he was outside. He watched as the two of them staggered down the marble steps, giggling. He was happy to see the two of them enjoying themselves, but had the sneaking suspicion that Jack was only this drunk because of what had happened earlier. As a rule he wasn't a big drinker, limiting himself to a couple and switching to water at some point in the night.

"Hiya!" Gwen said cheerily as she slid into the front seat, "thank you so much for doing this"

"no problem" Ianto said politely, glancing back as Jack sidled into the back seat silently, an almost sheepish look on his face, "Hi, Jack"

"Hello" he murmured, "Thank you for…"

"Yep" Ianto replied tightly, pulling off. Gwen's brow furrowed in confusion at the less than warm exchange between the couple. She looked to Jack in the mirror. She had thought it suspicious when he'd kept ordering bottle after bottle, but it being a wedding planning session she'd rolled with it. But now seeing the two of them together it all made sense. She raised an eyebrow questioningly to Jack, who leaned forward in a move that was less than subtle,

"Ianto's mad at me" Jack stage whispered to Gwen, who rolled her eyes,

"Jack he's not deaf. What's going on?"

Jack remained silent, his eyes in his lap, as Ianto focused on driving barely listening. They were stopped at traffic lights that were taking a ridiculously long time to change. Gwen glanced between the two of them before throwing her hands up.

"Right, spit it out you two, I'm too drunk and tired for this"

"Honestly, Gwen, its nothing" Ianto sighed, "he got all snappy earlier and I'm not entirely sure why, that's all"

"I told you to leave it!" Jack whined, and Ianto gestured towards him incredulously,

"Like that" Ianto said, "snappy, for no good reason. All because of a stupid phone call"

"phone call?" Gwen looked at Jack, "what phone call?"

"Gwen, shut up" Jack suddenly yelled, "Why can't the two of you just drop it?!"

With that he got out of the car, slamming the door behind him and storming off down the street, ignoring the shocked and confused calls from the both of them. Ianto had no choice but to pull off as the lights finally turned green, and the BMW behind him was creeping further up his arse impatiently.

"Ianto what the hell is going on?"

Ianto sighed, "just after he left to meet you, the phone rang. It was really weird, but I think the guys name was Gray"

Gwen's eyes widened, "Shit. Ianto, has he never told you about Gray?"

"No, who is Gray?"

"you really should talk about it with Jack…"

"yeah well Jack has vacated the premises at this exact moment" Ianto deadpanned, "Gwen, I'm worried. We've never been like this, we've been through so much together and we've always faced it together. But he just completely shut me out at the mention of this guys name"

"It's complicated, even I don't know the whole story" Gwen admitted, "Ok, I'll tell you the brief details but then you need to find and talk to Jack. You love eachother, he doesn't open up about this easily but for you he will"

"Gwen what are you….?"

"Gray is Jack's little brother"

"Oh… he mentioned he had a brother, said that it was a long story and that they hadn't seen each other in years"

"Yes…but there's a reason for that. A reason that Jack needs to tell you in his own time. We really should find him"

"I think I know where he'll go" Ianto considered, "he likes heights when he's upset"

Gwen looked at him with a small smile, "you really do know him so well"

"I thought I did. But then today happened and I'm not so sure"

"You are the most important thing in the world to him Ianto. He loves you more than he has ever loved anyone, you're it for him. But his issues with Gray, it's a side to him he doesn't show anyone, a side he's ashamed of. His go to response is to shut down. You need to handle this carefully"

"I will" Ianto nodded, "I want to help him, I cant imagine anything he could say that would make me doubt him. But him shutting me out like this is hard to take"

"Go and find him and tell him that" Gwen said, leaning her head against the cool window, the prosecco and drama going to her head and making her sleepy,

"I'll drop you home first, give him a bit of space" Ianto said, turning towards her flat. He took a deep breath, keeping his eyes on the road. He had no idea what to expect from Jack, he could only hope he would let him in.