Jack awoke feeling groggy but at the same time content. He knew that there was something wrong, something pulling at the back of his mind, but he was too tired to give it much thought. He was exhausted. So instead, he snuggled further into Ianto's warm embrace, inhaling the soothing scent of his lover.

He was just on the edge of sleep when his brain kicked in and reminded him what was wrong. He jerked in Ianto's arms, eyes snapping open as he pulled his face out of Ianto's shoulder to look at him better.

Ianto moaned softly and tried to bury his head deeper into the flat pillows. The eye that wasn't squashed into the bedding cracked open slightly as he groaned and looked at him.

"Ianto?" he said, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing.

Ianto groaned again. "Ugh, too early." He pulled Jack back in who went happily. "Five more minutes, sod the Rift."

Jack laughed happily and hugged him tighter, letting Ianto shift to use his chest as a pillow.

He placed several kisses on the top of Ianto's head. Tears of joy leaked from his eyes. "You're still here," he said with breathless wonder. "You're still here."

"Hush," Ianto moaned, still not really awake as his hand gripped onto Jack's shirt. "Sleep."

And for once, Jack didn't argue. He glanced around the empty room, noting the paper with their names on left on the bedside cabinet.

It hadn't been a dream. He'd closed the Rift. His friends had left them alone for now. Everyone was safe and Ianto was back in his arms, snuffling slightly as he slipped back into sleep. They had all the time in the world.

Jack could wait for Ianto. And actually, right now Jack was quite content to just hold him as he rested safe in his arms. He couldn't imagine anything better right now.

Jack didn't know how long he lay there with Ianto in his arms until he started to stir. Long enough for a small patch of drool to darken Jack's shirt, not that he minded. He thought it was cute, along with the little snuffling breaths he took. However, Ianto Jones just starting to wake up – unaided by an annoying alarm or sudden jerk as he awoke from a nightmare – was a much sweeter sight.

He smiled as Ianto squirmed closer, arms and legs tightening their hold on him before relaxing with a sigh. His eyes flickered behind still closed eyelids and Jack regretted that they were still clothed as he couldn't feel the soft flutter of Ianto's eyelashes on his chest as Ianto blearily opened his eyes. Jack stroked a hand down his back, noting Ianto's shirt was slightly damp and clinging to his warm skin, despite him kicking the blanket off long ago.

Ianto grunted at the movement. "Morning."

"Hey sleepyhead," Jack replied with a tender smile. "Good sleep?" he asked as Ianto yawned and stretched.

"Uh-huh," he grunted, but didn't settle back on Jack's chest like he usually did. "Why d'ya let me sleep in my clothes?"

"Didn't plan on sleeping," Jack replied, pulling him back in for a kiss.

Ianto went willingly before pulling back. "Morning breath." He screwed up his face and glared at him, but his eyes were still half-closed.

"Can't be," he pointed out with a good-natured chuckle. "It's almost afternoon."

Ianto flopped over onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes. Jack rolled to follow him in a reverse of their previous position, leaning up on his elbow so he could still see him. "How are you feeling?"

He grunted again. "Tired. Stiff. Too hot."

"Always," Jack leered. Ianto removed his arm to glare at him again and Jack laughed delightedly. "I could help you with that."

"Mmm, could do with getting out of these clothes."

"You only had to ask," he smiled, not his usual leer, but a softer gentler smile that only Ianto brought out of him. He leaned back over and leisurely kissed him, but this time Ianto didn't object.

He kept his touches soft and gentle, conscious of the bruising that covered Ianto's body. Last night, Jack had been too relieved to have Ianto back again to be mindful about what he'd just put him through and though it pained him to admit, he hadn't even considered it until Martha's questions. He hadn't thought about what it must have been like for Ianto because he couldn't bear to think about it.

Jack was a man who'd died over two thousand times in many almost as many different ways.

Asphyxia , blunt trauma, cardiac arrest, dehydration, electrocution – that was just the start of one alphabet. Alcohol poisoning, buried alive, crushed to death, decapitation, exhaustion – that was another.

Ianto had been mortal.

He pushed those thoughts away again and concentrated on the man – alive, once more – in front of him.

Jack was down to his undershirt and had Ianto's shirt hanging open when three sharp knocks disturbed them.

"You better still be decent in there, you two," Gwen's voice called through the door.

Ianto's eyes shot open, and his cheeks flushed even redder. Jack sighed and shuffled up Ianto's body to hide his face in the crook of Ianto's neck, pressing a half-hearted kiss to his pulse point. Ianto ran his fingers through Jack's short hair soothingly.

"Okay," Jack mumbled to himself before raising himself carefully up off Ianto. "Why? You wanna join in? It'll be a bit of a squeeze to get the three of us in this bed, but I've worked in smaller spaces," he called back to Gwen, trying to find the fearless Captain Jack she knew. From the look in Ianto's eyes, he wasn't quite sure he managed it.

"You better not be insulting my wife, Harkness!" Rhys called back as Gwen walked in.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He helped Ianto to sit up beside him against the headboard with him.

"They're decent," Gwen called to the others, having already entered, a small sad smile on her face. She'd seen much worse before. As had Rhys, but Jack didn't point that out this time.

Ianto rolled his eyes as he did up his shirt.

"And anyway, she's beautiful," Jack told Rhys sincerely as he entered, followed by Martha and Mickey. He flashed Gwen his trademark grin as he spoke, but he couldn't keep the fondness out of his voice.

Gwen's sad smile disappeared as she snorted. "I'm huge."

"Bloody gorgeous, that's what you are," Rhys said affectionately.

"How is the baby?" Ianto enquired tentatively. "Have you thought of any names or…"

"They're doing good. Healthy," Gwen said with a nod.

"You don't know the gender?" Jack asked.

Rhys gave a strained smile. "It was going to be one last Torchwood surprise. Should've known that you would top that and do one better."

Jack noticed the glare Rhys got from Gwen. "And as for names, we're still deciding."

"I still think Edward's a good idea for a boy," Rhys said.

Gwen groaned.

"Jack's better," Jack replied, wrapping an arm around Ianto. "Little Jack Williams."

"No," Gwen said decisively. "Definitely not. Something nice and traditional, I think. Welsh."

"I agree," Ianto said. "As long as it's not Ianto."

"The poor thing would never be able to live up to his namesake if that was the case. Every time they made coffee, they'd just be disappointed."

"Shut up, you," Ianto groaned. "We didn't all get the chance to pick out a name ourselves, you know, 'Captain Jack Harkness'."

"Or that time you went undercover and chose 'Ken', just because it meant handsome," Gwen laughed, sitting down to the bed next to them.

Jack pouted at the gentle teasing, but it soon broke into a smile. He wrapped his other arm around her waist. He'd missed this. He'd missed Torchwood. Not just Ianto, he'd missed Gwen. And though he'd never admit it out loud, he had missed Rhys too. He'd missed the little family he'd found at Torchwood so much that it hurt. He'd been so devastated by the grief of Ianto dying, the guilt of killing Steven, and the overwhelming mixture of grief and guilt of losing his daughter, that he'd almost forgotten what else he had lost in the process.

Ianto was grinning. "God, that was unbearable! I'd almost forgotten about that."

Martha cleared her throat as Gwen and Ianto laughed. Immediately, Jack noticed that something was wrong. Ianto must have too, as he suddenly stopped laughing and looked over at her.

"I'm assuming you didn't all barge in on us to make fun of me?" Jack asked as the room quietened.

"It's our room," Mickey said under his breath and Martha shot him a sharp look.

"No," she said.

"What's wrong? You said that I was alright?" Ianto asked, chewing his bottom lip.

"He is, isn't he?" Jack demanded. He wanted to get up, to be stood wearing his coat, but that would mean leaving Ianto alone and he wanted that even less. "You said he was fine."

"I did. But we still don't know how Ianto is here."

"What do you mean? I already told you."

Gwen sighed, shifting on the bed to face them better. Jack's arm dropped from around her waist. "You went to The House of the Dead to see Ianto again, didn't you? You went knowing that Syriath would manipulate you using your memories of him."

He gave a tentative nod. "She plucked him out of time and brought him here to me," he confirmed quietly. "But he's not a ghost, he's real."

"How?"

Jack didn't answer.

"Were the others real?" Martha asked, rephrasing Gwen's question. "The other ghosts, I mean. Did they seem real?"

Jack frowned in concentration. "Sort of. They were solid, if that's what you mean. You could interact with them, touch them. But they also made glasses explode and the lights go out. And they were cold, too. Ianto was as well at first."

"Was I?"

"Yeah, you were ice cold to start with. Kinda soothing, those cold fingers when you were fixing up my head after you found me down in the basement, knocked out by the landlord. But you didn't seem to notice until after everything was over."

"I remember that. I was absolutely freezing, but I thought it was just the shock of it all."

"But he's warm now, aren't you?" Gwen asked. "You were a bit chilly last night, but you feel warm to me now."

"Yep," Ianto agreed as she leaned over Jack to reach him. He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. "Almost too warm, even. Shirt and trousers aren't the best things to sleep in."

"Your core body temperature was still a little low when I checked you over, but not enough to suggest anything was wrong," Martha added. "I can just…" She rummaged under the desk, pulling out one of her bags and grabbing a scanner to give him the once over. It chirruped quickly. "37.6°. Completely normal."

"Don't ever think I've been called that before," Ianto smiled.

Gwen gave him a strained smile of her own then turned back to Jack. "Was Ianto…" She trailed off, took a breath, and started again. "Was Ianto one of Syriath's ghosts too?"

Jack bit his bottom lip and nodded.

"Okay, okay," she nodded. "And is he still…?"

"No," he denied vehemently. "I saved him."

"How did you save him, Jack?" Martha asked gently, sitting on the foot of the bed. "What did you do?"