Author's note: A longer chapter this time, after two shortish ones. Dedicated to two people: Harriet, by beloved cheerleader and nagging wife, who has dragged me on a lovely holiday to Newport/Cardiff adn with whom I have had a wonderful couple of days, and to Lizzy, who I sadly cannot meet as I was hoping to, because she is poorly sick :( Please go and give her love, she's LiquidLash, and her latest story will crack your socks off.

Onwards.

Late that night, Ianto pushed his door open, dropped his keys in the pot by the door and made it far enough across the room to collapse onto the sofa. He grinned into the cushion as Tybalt arrived, scrabbling his way along the sofa to nose and paw at Ianto's face. "Hush, sweetheart," he instructed, "just relax and I'll feed you in a minute." He squirmed around and shifted Tybalt onto his chest, keeping him distracted by tickling him gently. "That, Tybalt, was a night to remember. I think... I think, if I get my way, you might be getting a new daddy."

Tybalt pawed at his chin and he sighed, pinning the squirming creature against his chest with one hand and levering himself upright with the other. "Aright then, I'll feed you. Pest." He hummed lightly as he wandered through to the kitchen and set Tybalt down on the floor, picking his bowl up and opening a sachet of cat food into it. "There we go, will that keep you going? Good. I'm going for a shower, don't wreck the joint, OK?"

He was still singing to himself in the shower, and as he padded around the flat in just a towel to close the curtains, and in his head when he went to bed. By the time Tybalt bounced up to join him, he'd decided that it was Jack's fault. "He Rick-Rolled me Tybalt! Never gonna give him up... I'm going to be stuck with that all night now. I'm going to dream in Rick Astley." Tybalt, as usual, said nothing.

Ianto leaned back in his chair and took a speculative sip of the coffee, beaming up at Ally. "You're getting good at this."

"I learned from the best," she told him, going over to the filing cabinet and pulling out a selection of files. "OK, here you have the day's UNIT brief, two summary reports from Torchwood Glasgow and Liberty Towers and the Prime Minister's Schedule for this week."

"Thanks Ally," he pulled his Blackberry out, checking that his schedule had been updated accordingly. "Away again on Monday, but only as far as Wigan."

"How was last night?" Ally was updating the world map for the previous day's activity.

He smiled at her over the top of the UNIT brief. "Last night was wonderful."

"Was he a proper gentleman?"

"No," he laughed at her frown. "He let me be the gentleman."

She shook her head at him and put her pen back in the packet. "You get your kicks where you can I suppose."

Ianto nodded, distracted by the report. He reached for the phone, dialed the number and held it against his ear. "I'm calling Colonel Mace. If I'm not out in half an hour, send a search party."

Ianto smiled up at Ally as she set a cup of tea and a pair of paracetamol down in front of him. "Cheers, Ally," he chucked the paracetamol back and beckoned her around the desk. "Can you spot a problem with this?"

She frowned and pointed to the week in question with the end of a pen. "You're good, Ianto, but you can't be in two places at once."

"No," he agreed. "I need to be at the UNIT conference, but I also need to be in... Why is Gordon going to Paris right before Christmas?"

"More to the point, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I'll think of something, we've got a few months to think about it, at least." He pushed away from the desk and stood up, collecting his files together. "I'm going to head over to the archive with Tiffany and Jacqui, call me if the world ends or Jack calls."

"Boss," she acknowledged him with a smile.

He got the usual greeting from his team as he walked into the main office. "The Game!" was as standard here as it had been when he'd been pulling all-nighters with Tosh. "Thanks for that guys," he sighed. "OK, Tiffany and Jacqui, I want you in the archives with me. Martin, get onto Liberty Towers, get onto General Fothorton, he wants to organise an IT conference to share skills, UNIT are interested, but you'll need to butter Torchwood 3 up to get Toshiko. Jack should be in a good mood this morning though. Peter, you're due with UNIT in a couple of hours, remember."

"Just leaving, boss," he confirmed. "Any further advice before I go?"

"Be prepared to call for assistance. You're working with Colonel Grand, so you may need to throw your weight around," he passed the file to Peter as he stood up. "Good luck."

"Thanks, boss, I'll keep you posted."

"Do that. Martin, start on Tosh, you have her MSN, right?" Martin nodded. "OK, so get her enthusiastic about it, then call Jack and tell him that Liberty Towers request her presence, I'll smooth things over with him later."

"Smooth things over, do I want to know?" he asked, grinning over his monitor at Ianto.

Ianto shrugged. "I'll take him out to dinner again, come on ladies."

It took a couple of seconds for them to follow him, but two sets of footsteps were soon following him. "Ianto," Jacqui was the only one who still called him Ianto, for whatever reason. "What do you mean, you'll take him to dinner again?"

"I mean I'll take him to dinner, you know, it's not that hard a concept," he smirked.

"Yeah, boss, it's the 'again' we're wondering about," Tiffany told him, hurrying to keep up with his longer stride. He slowed to make it easier for her. "It kinda suggests that you've taken him to dinner before."

"Last night, as it happens," he pushed the button for the lift and grinned at her reflection.

"Erm..."

"You know, we met on the Bay, I took him for dinner at Harry Ramsdens, we went for a walk and I came home."

"You came home?" Doesn't he have a reputation to preserve?" Jacqui asked with a leer.

"First date, madam," he raised an eyebrow at her. "Besides, it's worth taking slowly."

"But... haven't you been out with him before?"

"What's with the inquisition?"

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition," Tiffany giggled.

"You two are so easy to distract," he sighed.

"Ianto!" Jacqui glared at him from where she leaned against the wall of the lift. "Details! We want details. Did he kiss you good night?"

"No."

"What?!" She shook her head in exasperation. "Men!"

Ianto and Tiffany shared a smile and he shrugged. "First date with an ex-boyfriend, we're taking it carefully."

"I'd like to meet him," Tiffany sighed. "He sounds like Jean Valjean."

"Hmmm."

"Ianto?" she nudged him. "Ianto, what are you thinking?"

The lift reached the bottom and he held the door open. "Jacqui, get working on that code. Tiffany, get that database fixed. I've had an idea."

Ianto popped into the main office again to talk to Martin and, through him, Tosh, before going back into his own office. "Ally, get Jack on the phone for me." He went to the filing cabinet in the corner and pulled out the files he needed.

"Oh dear," she settled behind his desk and dialed the number. "That sounds ominous."

Ianto put the files down on his desk and swung his screen around to join the conversation with Tosh and Martin, whilst Ally vacated his chair and held onto the phone. "I have had a brilliant idea, Analyn. Mark this day on the calendar."

She giggled and pointed to the phone. "Captain Harkness, it's Analyn Craig, Ianto's PA... No, he's fine, I'll just pass you over."

Ianto clamped the phone between his ear and his shoulder and smiled. "Jack, how are you?"

"I'm fine, a little curious as to why you've called me out of the blue. Why your PA called me out of the blue, in fact."

"I have a mutually beneficial proposition for us."

Jack chuckled, "You're propositioning me?"

"Yup, dinner on Wednesday?"

"Erm, sure. Is that what you called me about?"

He grinned down the phone. "No, it's not. I need my team to have more field experience. Currently, I am the only one of the team that I would trust to accompany Gordon overseas, but I am expected to be at the UNIT conference whilst he is in Paris."

"You're going to that?"

"Yes, I am. So are you, Sir." He smirked. "It is the perfect opportunity to foster inter-agency relationships."

"Why would I want to foster a relationship with UNIT" Jack grumbled.

"Well... there was a different agency with which I hoped you could take the opportunity to foster a stronger relationship." Ianto suggested.

"Huh?"

He sighed. "Jack. You, me, hotel, interested?"

Jack laughed. "I could probably be persuaded. It'd be nice to spend some time together... Even if UNIT are in attendance."

"Anyway." He glowed inside, but carried on. "But you see, I can't attend the conference if there isn't anyone to cover Gordon."

"So you want to borrow someone? Tosh likes him and would probably enjoy the trip."

"Not quite what I was thinking," he explained, "I want you to take two of my team on to train them."

"Go on."

"Well, if you train two of my team up, then I can send them as Prime Ministerial defence and concentrate on my work here in London." He paused. "It would also solve your short staffing issues in the short run and allow you to get a concrete training regime in place."

"It would, would it?"

"Yes, because if I am trusting two of my people to your care, I'm going to have to spend at least a week there planning their training with you, setting up their accommodation, making sure that your team, by which I mean Owen, are prepared for their arrival. And then I will have to stay another week to make sure that they are settled in."

Jack chuckled. "You seem to have thought about this in great detail, Ianto. Should I be worried?"

Ianto scribbled another couple of details down on a post-it note and passed it to Ally. "Nope, I'm making it up as I go along. Interested?"

Jack didn't answer immediately. "Yes, I am. Can we arrange a meeting to discuss this in detail?"

Ianto reached for his Blackberry and checked his schedule. "Wednesday afternoon? I'm out of the country again on Friday, so I'll need to spend Thursday attending briefings and stuff, but if I go over there on Wednesday afternoon, we can go out on Wednesday evening."

"I look forwards to it."

"Me too," he put Jack into his schedule and synched it with his computer. "OK, good. Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Can't you stay and talk?" Ianto could hear Jack's pout.

"I take it you have paperwork to do?" He laughed when Jack sighed. "Get on with it, and file it properly! I hate to think what the archives look like now."

"Hey! They're fine... Well, I think they're fine. They're fine by my standards..."

Ianto sighed. "Yes, definitely sending a couple of my team over there, I'll call you to confirm when I get back on Tuesday afternoon."

"OK, take care."

"I will, you too." He smiled as he put the phone down, and looked at the personnel files on his team. He looked up when Ally snickered. "What?"

"Nothing." She grinned down at the folder in her hands. "May I make a suggestion?"

Ianto hesitated and raised an eyebrow. "Go on?"

Ally pulled out two of the files and winked. "Jacqui and Martin, you and Jack won't be the only ones who will benefit from the opportunity to get better acquainted," she teased. "Oh," she added, pausing by the door, "and don't have conversations like that on monitored phone lines."

He swore. "Tell Jacqui and Martin that they've got a meeting with me in half an hour, please?"

An hour later, he leaned back in his seat and looked from Jacqui to Martin and back. "Any questions?"

"When do we start?" Martin asked with a laugh.

Jacqui was more reserved. "Why us?"

"You both have leadership skills which Jack will develop, you will both gel well with the team in Cardiff and you will each bring different skills to the team as well. Jacqui, it's been about twenty years since Torchwood Cardiff had a cryptographer on the team, and whilst Tosh is good, there's a lot in the archives that needs an expert translation. Martin, you'll get the opportunity to work with Tosh and the Torchwood computers before the IT conference, which will benefit you both, and it's a unique opportunity."

"I'm in boss." He confirmed.

Jacqui hesitated a bit longer before nodding and smiling. "It would be an honour."

"Good," he beamed. "Three rules. One, do not mess with the Rift. Two, don't eat anything Owen gives you for a week. And three, wear shoes you can run in at all times. I've got to finalise the details with Jack on Wednesday, then you'll start there the first week in September."