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Jack was not sure what Owen was bringing him, not usually one to ask for favours. As he heard his voice in the outer office talking to Toshiko Jack found himself thinking back to the first time they met.

The day Owen lost his fiancé and Jack was the attending officer. A sad day. The courtship a few years later between Owen and Jack's PA Toshiko had been both agonizingly slow and unexpected for both of them, Jack doing what he could to encourage it as months passed, then almost a year after that first date and admission to one another that there were feelings.

Now they were a couple, Jack felt like Owen was that annoying kid brother you always wanted. Definitely more of one than Gray ever was.

Owen didn't ask for favours. Not his style. To ask Jack to see a friend was something Jack embraced. Anything to please his buddy. He was not expecting the man who entered behind Owen. The thin, refined and clearly uncomfortable young man who hung back wringing his hands like he was here against his will.

"Jack, this is Ianto." Owen said as he slumped in his usual chair, "He has a story to tell."

"Well … he looks busy" the man said and oh my god… those vowels went straight to Jack's groin. Sweet Mary Mother of Jesus, Jack knew he had to move under the desk more, and quickly. Wow. What has Owen bought him? Owen was eager for the man to speak, even if the man himself wasn't and finally he rolled his eyes and began to talk softly with such a delicious voice.

"My name is Ianto. Ianto Hallett" the handsome man finally sits primly on the edge of his chair, the laptop bag he had been carrying placed down beside him "I met my wife when we were both at university. She surprised me, was an aggressive woman even then. I was unsure… she comes from money. A LOT of money and her family do not approve of me."

"Too quiet for them?" Jack asked then leaned back "Or poor?"

"Too white" his surprise answer had Jack's eyebrows rising slightly as he motioned for him to continue and Ianto shifted in the chair again, clearly not happy as he glared at Owen who motioned at him so with a sigh he continued "Hallett is not my birth name. When we wed I took hers. Part of the pre-nup as her brother died and the family name was… but that is getting ahead of myself."

"Back to uni. Ah … she was aggressive, wanting and I admit, she was my first lover. When she told me she was pregnant she was just starting her job at the family firm and … it made sense for me to give up my job and be the stay-at-home father. My job didn't even touch what she makes and with her being so … focused on her work it would have been silly to do otherwise. Henry was born with…ah…"

"The kid has physical and mental problems" Owen muttered and Jack noted the flash of anger in the young man's face before he turned to Owen.

"Owen."

"Sorry" Owen shrugged and Jack is now surprised as Owen NEVER apologizes for anything. Wow. This guy, whoever he is, really is a friend. Jack didn't know Owen had any others.

"We wed before she was showing … the pre-nup shoved at me before the wedding with conditions attached that did not sit well with me and we had our first argument. Finally we reconsidered a few and we came to an agreement that suited her and her family. We wed, Henry was born and he has …ah… developmental delays. The polite way of saying my son is…well … simple. I suspect some sort of thing like Down Syndrome or maybe something on the autism spectrum but my wife refuses to have him tested."

"I still say do it without her knowing. She never knows what you do with him, she is never fucking there" Owen interrupted, then made a motion of covering his mouth sarcastically.

"My wife, as I have said several times is … aggressive" Ianto says pointedly and now Jack hears the words not spoken. Aggressive. As in .. abusive? Jack stares at him and then asks the only question that matters now.

"Do you want a way out?"

Ianto stares back and then silently nods.

"OK. I will need…" Jack starts to speak then stops as Ianto pulled a file out of the bag he had carried in with him, thought to be a laptop bag it is clearly a carrier bag and the file plonked down is thick.

"Paperwork, photographs, a written account of everything I can think if that might help, email access, passwords to everything I know of and permission to dig." His vowels are so pretty, as are those eyes that finally slide to meet Jack's.

Wow.

"Well Mister... what was your name? When you were you?"

Ianto's smile is warm as he leans in and says softly "Jones. Believe it or not, just another common old Jones. But please… call me Ianto."

Something told Jack this rare creature was anything but common.

And he was invested.