"I take it she took the news well then" Owen nodded to Ianto as the man dropped his coffee off the following morning. He took it gratefully and had almost downed half the cup before Ianto registered that he'd spoken.

"What?"

"Nice mark on your neck there, either Jenny took it well or you've had some sort of sucker fish related accident"

Ianto blushed profusely, his hand flying up to cover the lovebite, glancing around to check none of the others could overhear.

"Yep, she um…" he mumbled, "I told her the truth. And she accepted it"

"Well clearly"

"Piss off" Ianto rolled his eyes, "I guess its early days still"

"This is a good thing though, right?" Owen prompted, "if she knows the truth"

"Yeah… I think so" his eyes drifted up towards Jack's office, a look that wasn't missed by Owen.

"He'll be fine"

"What?"

"Jack, he'll be fine. He always is" Owen said firmly, "You have to choose to make yourself happy, while you have the chance. Let's face it, none of us are going to see our pensions so enjoy life while you can"

"What a cheery thought Owen, thanks for that"

"I'm serious" Owen clapped him on the back, "do what's right for you"

"Yeah um…. Thanks, Owen" Ianto nodded shyly.

"Yep" Owen waved him away as he headed off to the autopsy room. Ianto watched him go for a moment before heading off to the archives, his sanctuary.

"Ianto, you down here?" Jack's voice boomed from the doorway

"Yep" he called back, "keep walking past the thing that looks like a giant melon baller"

"What the hell…. We have some weird stuff down here" Jack muttered as he followed the instruction and found Ianto, his jacket off and sleeves rolled up as he sorted through piles of artefacts haphazardly scattered across various tables. Jack couldn't help but smile as he looked at the younger man, at home down here surrounded by all this chaos.

"Something you needed, Sir?"

"Hmm? Oh, no" Jack shook his head, "No, um… I just… is that a butt plug?" Jack asked, holding up a small plastic object from the desk,

"It's a pencil sharpener" Ianto looked at him in disbelief, grabbing the item from Jack and shoving it in a drawer, as Jack smiled sheepishly,

"Anyway um…. What ya doin'" he asked in a sing-song voice, leaning up against a shelf in a way that wasn't intended to be sexy but the man simply couldn't help it,

"Why are you here?"

"Um I thought I'd check on the… pipes?" he said weakly, as Ianto raised an eyebrow,

"Try again, Jack"

"Ok you caught me, I'm bored and the level of paperwork on my desk is driving me to insanity" Jack sighed dramatically, "have you got something I can do down here that is slightly less mind numbing?"

Ianto rolled his eyes at Jack's pleading stare but eventually relented.

"If you're staying you can help me sort these shelves out. They're about to collapse under the weight of all this disarray, what kind of organization system did you use here? Oh wait I know, none of them"

"Hey, I can be organized"

"Shelves F-L would be inclined to disagree, look at the state of this" Ianto gestured around him.

"I got bored somewhere around 1989" Jack shrugged, grinning at the look of disgust on Ianto's face.

"Hand me that box, will you?"

Jack pulled the box, that was far heavier than it looked, off the shelf to hand to Ianto. What hadn't been clear until that point is how that box was just about holding up the rest of the shelving unit. the whole thing began to collapse around them with a colossal crash, and Ianto watched on in horror as the shelf took down another four of his recently organised sections with it. Jack reached for Ianto and dragged him out of the way, both of them running towards the door hand in hand as the shelves fell like dominoes. They collapsed to the floor in a heap, rolling out of the way of the falling shelves, all the while giggling like kids. Their laughter cut off as they realized just how close they were, their noses brushing against each other as their bodies aligned.

"Well, this brings back memories doesn't it" Jack chuckled softly, his hands wandering over Ianto's hips of their own accord. Ianto's own hands were resting either side of Jack's head as he looked down at him. Their eyes met and Ianto was catapulted back to all that time ago, in that old warehouse with Myfanwy tranquilized next to them.

"I should go"

"You said that last time" Jack pointed out, unconsciously tilting his lips up towards Ianto's. Ianto was leaning in without any awareness at all feeling Jack's breath against his lips calling him in. His body was screaming at him to touch the man beneath him, to claim his lips and not stop until they were both screaming out their release. And then his mind caught up to him.

"Jack… I can't do this" he whispered,

"I know" Jack nodded, "You better get up then, my legs are going numb"

"Yep, sorry" he stood up, holding his hand out to lift Jack to his feet. Their hands stayed linked for a moment longer than necessary before they parted.

"Just so you know... having you in my life... in whatever way that might be... I just wouldn't be without it, ok?"

"Jack"

"No, I don't mean... I'm just saying I don't want to lose you from Torchwood so... I will keep my distance, if that's what you want"

"It's... what I need, for now" Ianto mumbled, "I'm trying to be... happy"

"Ok" Jack nodded, "you got it"

"Thank you"

"Course" Jack smiled tightly, "Anyway, we best get these shelves sorted shouldn't we"

"I can sort it don't worry, I'm sure that paperwork is still waiting for you"

Jack glared at him jokingly, "You just don't want me messing with your organizational system do you"

"That's exactly what I'm saying yes" Ianto said seriously,

"Fine" Jack held his hands up in defeat, "I'll catch you later then"

Ianto watched him leave before sinking into the pile of artefacts with a groan. His head and his heart were at war with each other all over again. It was like he was fighting the two parts of himself, the one who wanted a normal, healthy life with Jenny, perhaps even the domestic marriage kids and a dog life sometime in the future. And then there was the other part, the one who wanted adventure and risk and passion, the short but reckless life that Torchwood gave him. That Jack gave him. He had no idea what he wanted, but one thing was for certain. He was starting to see that there wasn't really a way to align both parts of himself. Something was going to have to give.