Author's note: Huge thanks for this chapter to Harriet, who bullied me onto a speedboat, then another, and to whom I have promised Speedboat Datefic. This is not it. This is something else.

Ianto pressed the intercom and straightened his suit. He grinned when it crackled into life and leaned closer. "It's Ianto Jones, I'm here for the inspection from London."

Jack opened the door and laughed. "It's not locked, come on in."

"Jack," he grinned. "Good to see you again."

"You too, as always, loving the suit," Jack leered at him. "It's new, nice colour."

Ianto chuckled. "I thought you'd approve," they fell into step down the corridor and into the lift. "So how have you been?"

Jack leaned back on the wall of the lift and watched him, then smiled suddenly. "I've missed you, still do. It's good to have you back here."

He looked for a moment like he was going to reach out to Jack, but instead he put his hands in his pockets and smiled at the door. "Coffee?"

Jack sighed and took one step, bringing him close enough to Ianto to rest a hand on his arm. "I mean it, I miss you so much."

"I know, I miss you too," Ianto didn't look at him. "I'm here now." Jack dropped his hand and put it in his own pocket, mirroring Ianto's stance. He looked up sharply when Ianto added, "It's a start."

They both started when the alarms blared and Ianto straightened his suit, smiling briefly at Jack before the door rolled back and they turned to the team who were waiting for them. "I'll put the coffee on?"

"Thank fuck for that," Owen greeted him. "These two have been a nightmare." He gestured at Tosh and Gwen with a scalpel and Ianto nodded a greeting, trying not to watch Jack's retreat to his office.

"Welcome back, Ianto," Gwen beamed at him.

"Good to see you again," Tosh agreed. "You mentioned coffee?"

He laughed and felt himself relax in the company of his friends. "Come and talk to me whilst I make it?"

They crowded into the space and watched him working, talking over each other and at cross purposes. "How is Gordon?", "Tybalt is...", "...been a while...", "...that book...", "... London..." He replied as best he could, keeping up with the three conversations at once, fending off the political questions he couldn't answer, elaborating on the work ones he wanted to and avoiding the personal ones he didn't want to. Despite their warm words, the initial reception had been frosty, apart from Tosh who had had the chance to forgive him slightly. Clearly, they were still angry with him for his treatment of Jack. "Will you be back for good any time?" Owen asked eventually, when they all paused to drink.

Ianto turned his mug around in his hands as he put Jack's coffee on, no point putting it on with the others, he'd be here for a while. "I... If he wants me back, in both the team and his life. Neither of us would settle for less. Right now, I'm trying to find a way, but however much I regret letting..." he paused, considering the phrasing. "However much I regret giving up, I now know that the London office needed one of us to set it up."

"And you and Jack?" Gwen asked slowly.

He looked away up to Jack's office and shrugged, glad when Tosh took pity on him and pulled the conversation away.

It was nearly half an hour later when he put Jack's coffee down on his desk and brushed a hand across his shoulder gently. "I have missed you," he said, leaning against the desk next to Jack's coffee.

"Yeah," Jack reached for the coffee and sighed happily. "I've missed your coffee."

Ianto laughed. "I thought it was the coffee. So," he picked up his file and sat down. "We should get on with this."

"Yeah. So, what do you recommend?"

He pulled out Jacqui and Martin's files and passed them across the desk. "Technological expert and cryptographer. Tosh could do with the help, and you need a cryptographer. They're sharp, brilliant, dependable and adaptable and could really do with nudging in the right direction."

Jack laughed. "You're using this as a chance to get them together?"

He didn't look up. "Merely an added bonus, Jack. Right, I can't spare me a fortnight, but I will come over on the Saturday, after I've made my calls, they can come over on Tuesday and I will go back in time to make the calls the following Saturday, unless you have any objections?"

"None I can think of," Jack leaned back in his chair. "You've got it all planned out."

"That's my job," he smiled. "Planning and preparing."

"And you're still good at what you do. What do you want me to do with them then?"

"Use them as you would any new recruits to Torchwood. Take them out in the field, get them down in the Archives, put them in the TI Office. They need to be adaptable. I'd like it if you'd teach them to shoot, as well."

Jack nodded his agreement. "OK, so what do you want to do about accommodation?"

"I was thinking about setting rooms up in the old infirmary rooms – for a while, I had vague plans to turn that into an area we could use for overnights, rather than taking it in turns on the sofa," he suggested, pulling out a plan of the rooms. Jack stared at him, apparently having forgotten how practical Ianto really was. "The laboratory down there hasn't been used since the 1990s, we could refit that to give Owen more room to work, convert the old ward into a dormitory type sleeping arrangement and the three private rooms into more permanent accommodation."

Jack studied the plans he'd sketched out over breakfast that morning and looked at him over the top of them. "I bought your flat."

"I know."

Jack chuckled, "I thought you would, well..."

"I'm sorry I left so suddenly, Jack," Ianto blurted, staring at his hands in his lap. "It was cruel and unfair, I didn't think about what that would do to you as well."

He shrugged uncomfortably and avoided the subject. "You could stay there, though. Whilst you're here. If you don't... there's the spare room, and..."

"I'd love to."

"Yeah?" Jack smiled slightly.

"Yes, Jack."

"Okay. Right, and, first Saturday in September?" He checked.

The Rift alarm went off. "Perfect timing," Ianto grumbled. "Room for one more Captain Harkness?"

"Oh, I think so, Mr Jones. Let's brush up on your skills, shall we? And test out my training process as we do it," Jack grinned at him as they went for the weapons. "Tosh, what do we have?"

"Big spike in Penarth," she swung the monitor around to Ianto. "Lifeform of some sort, but it wasn't in CCTV range for long enough for me to get a recognition."

"Which way is it heading?"

"Hard to say, but I've not picked it up since, so I would guess it's gone down onto the beach."

"Speedboat?" Ianto asked.

"Speedboat," Jack grinned and tossed a clip to Ianto and Owen. "Tosh, you're on comms. Gwen, Owen, Ianto, to the boat house."

Already, the barricades which had formed in his working relationships were falling down, as he slotted back into the team like the clip into his gun – smooth, reassuring, potentially lethal. He shuddered slightly at the realisation and caught the tracker that Gwen tossed across to him. "Any reports in yet?"

"Call to the coastguard, it's coming along the beach towards Cardiff."

Ianto held Jack's coat out for him and brushed the shoulders into place whilst Jack threw orders around. "Gwen, get onto the Coastguard, tell them..."

"We've got it under control. I know, Jack," she was on the phone already, apparently listening to it dialing. "Can you cope without me?"

Jack looked between Owen and Ianto, accepting his Webley from Ianto and checking it for bullets. "I think so. If we can't, get across on the jet ski."

"OK."

"Jack," Tosh called. "The barrage is opening for you, you need to get there quickly!"

"Thanks Tosh. Come on."

They ran through the catacombs to the boat house. Ianto got the door open whilst Owen and Jack leaped into the boat, maneuvering right up to the door to let him in. He still had to jump the gap from the side, and only Owen grabbing his arm and tugging him into Jack, who held him firmly, saved him from falling into the murky water. "Honestly, teaboy, thought you were supposed to be the hot shot these days?"

Ianto laughed but clutched onto Jack's arm as Owen took the controls and the boat swayed alarmingly. Just for a moment, he relished the secure hold, Jack's protection, the warmth of human contact again. The moment was getting longer and harder to let go of. "You okay?" Jack asked close to his ear.

"Yeah, just..." they got out of the speed limited version and lurched again as Owen hit the throttle, this time Ianto had to catch Jack. "Knew that was going to happen," he smiled. "You okay?"

Jack chuckled. "Oh yeah," they grabbed onto the rail and leaned back on it, realising belatedly that none of them had life jackets on. The wind rushed through their hair and Ianto had to fight the urge to whoop with the exhiliration of it. Then, suddenly, they were slowing and entering the lock on the barrage, and had to get out to tie it up. Jack caught the rope he tossed and offered him his hand to get out of the boat. "Low tide too, we'll be here forever."

Owen leaned over the side of the boat to splash water at them. "Down boys!" he griped, settling back down on the seat. "No sex in the lock."

"Not again, anyway," Ianto smirked.

Owen just groaned and turned away. "Suddenly, I can't remember why I ever had a problem with you leaving."

Jack and Ianto were silent, and Owen returned to grumbling as the sluices opened and the water level began to fall. The sudden return of tension caused the wait to feel twice as long as it was, and Ianto was glad when his hands were busy again with untying the boat and they were able to pick up speed again on the open water across to Penarth.

This side of the barrage, the alien was clearly visible, moving along the beach. It looked like a cross between a Raxacoricophalipatorian and a Weevil, not as cumbersome as the former but more bulbous than the latter. "It's a Sandkin," Jack told them, reaching for the case under the seat.

"A what?" Owen looked at Ianto, who shrugged.

"It's the Raxacoricophalipatorian name for their race. They come from a planet in the same system as Raxacoricophalipatorius and Clom and...

"Clom?" Owen asked with a smirk as Jack selected a vial of chemicals. "Great name for a planet."

"Says the earthboy," Jack pointed out. "Although I'll admit that Clom is pretty much as bad as it sounds. Like Bradford on a Thursday night," they frowned at each other and he carefully ignored them. "We'll sedate it for the moment. They eat rocks, so we can grab some from the beach. Easier than plankton, wouldn't you say, Ianto?"

"Certainly, sir," Ianto agreed, offering his hand so that Jack could get up onto the side for a better shot. "Although that comment would, perhaps, be better directed to Owen."

Jack laughed and reached down for Ianto's hand. "Owen, take us closer," he laced his fingers through Ianto's and braced himself, his coat flapping in the breeze, then released his hand and raised the tranquilizer gun again. "Ianto, you may well need to catch me."

Sure enough, the recoil knocked him off balance and he stumbled off the edge, flapping wildly for his balance for a moment before Ianto surged up and wrapped his arms around him, dropping back down and pulling Jack with him safely. They stared at each other for a moment, Jack upside down from where his head was now resting against Ianto's bruised chest. The moment of panic had their pulses and breaths racing, and Ianto could feel his grasp on the situation and his legendary control slipping away the more contact he had with Jack.

They swayed against each other again as Owen gunned the throttle and Jack stood up, brushing a hand down his arm before turning to lean on the side. They had to follow the Sandkin down the beach until the tranquiliser took hold. "Let's hope it doesn't make it past the barrage," Ianto commented, leaning next to Jack.

"Yeah," Jack leaned down as far as he could, holding onto the rail, and trailed his fingers through the water. "Of course, the name Sandkin, in English, is deceptive. It means roughly the same as troll, if you use it to describe a person."

"Someone who goes on message boards and forums to cause trouble?" Ianto guessed.

Jack rolled his eyes. "No, someone slow and stupid, ugly... It's not a nice word, but an accurate description."

The Sandkin was slowing, staggering drunkely along the beach and Jack took his coat off, sitting down and pulling his boots off. "Owen, take us closer in. Ianto, we're going paddling."

Ianto sighed, rolling up his trousers and pulling his shoes and socks off. It still wasn't enough to keep his trousers dry when he and Jack jumped over the side into the water, but at least his shoes were dry. "I knew I should have brought shorts," he grumbled.

Jack's trousers were also wet, but he didn't seem to mind as he waded up to the beach, following the dopey alien. "We'll dry. Come on Detritus, come on. This way," he picked up a rock and held it out, beaming when the Sandkin snuffled towards him. "That's it, this way..."

"Detritus?" Ianto asked.

"Pratchett," Jack explained. "Sergeant in the Watch."

"I know," he rolled his eyes. "Just... well, good choice I guess, Watch and all that. He does look more like a Blue John to me."

"He's yellow."

"So is Blue John sometimes," Ianto defended himself, moving behind the alien and shepherding it towards Jack and the boat. Owen had brought it much closer in, but it would still be hard to get the alien in.

Jack saw his skeptical expression and laughed. "Easy, grab a leg," the alien grunted in surprise when they grabbed it, but seemed to be holding itself up against the boat. "And on three. One, two three..." It toppled over the side and rocked the boat, settling it further into the rocky beach. "And push."

Their return into the boat, once they got it off the rock, was as elegant as their departure. Ianto bashed his head against one of the foot lockers, Jack's foot got caught in the rail, Ianto's arm ended up bent backwards underneath one of Jack's legs, which was in an unusual contortion. None of that mattered when, finally, in the bottom of a boat in the Bristol channel, next to a sedated troll and with Owen laughing at them, Jack rolled him over on top of him and kissed him.

Ianto sighed softly, shifting sightly and enjoying the tension and soreness that had become almost unfamiliar in the months since he'd been gone. Jack's skin was warm and soft under his palm, and the arm around his torso was heavy and reassuring, holding him close and protecting him, but not tight enough to stop him leaving. He flexed his fingers on Jack's side and Jack's hand brushed across his shoulder again. After enjoying the comfort for a while, he lifted himself on one elbow and looked down at Jack, seeing in his eyes that he knew what he was about to say. "I have to go."

Jack sighed and his hand slipped to Ianto's hip, still holding him. "Now?"

He nodded. "Before I'm too tired to drive," hesitating a moment, he bent down and pressed his lips to Jack's gently, lingering and barely pulling away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this."

Jack looked hurt and pulled back from where he'd leaned up to follow the kiss. "What didn't you mean?"

"To come to your bed when I had to leave," he reassured him. "I didn't want to have to leave you."

"You had no trouble last time," Jack pointed out, sitting up and forcing Ianto back, but pulling backwards further.

Ianto settled on his haunches and sighed, running a hand through his sweat-damp hair and grimacing. "Walking away from you was the hardest thing I ever did. I knew... I knew we needed it. We can be everything we want, but it was just convenient, it was..."

"We were never just convenient, Ianto. Not to me," Jack insisted.

He sighed and tried to organise his thoughts again. "That we... cared for each other, didn't want anyone else, didn't make it less convenient. We allowed the fact that our relationship was virtually presented to us to not... I don't know, not make the most of it? We... we wasted time we didn't have, telling ourselves it was right when it wasn't."

"I..." Jack paused. "You knew it was worth fighting for. But you had to make us fight for it to realise," Ianto nodded. "I didn't fight."

Ianto shivered in the cold and smiled against Jack's skin when he gathered him into his arms, pulling the duvet up and wrapping it around them. He trailed a finger down Jack's sternum. "You did, in your way. But the fight was with yourself, I think."

Jack held him for a while, running fingers up and down his spine, before he spoke again. "What changed?"

"There was a bomb scare," Ianto sighed, smiling involuntarily when Jack's arms tightened around him, knowing that Jack would need to hold him for what came next. "The public doesn't know, it's all top secret still, still being cracked, but if it had come off, I would probably have been killed."

Sure enough, Jack's arms around him tightened even further and he drew in a juddering breath. "Ianto..."

"I'm here," he reminded him. "It... That's what we're here for, isn't it? We're part of that army, keeping the nation safe from threats they can't know about, for one reason or another."

"You can't ask me to let go of you now," Jack insisted. "Please, let me hold you."

He nuzzled closer in reassurance. "Staying here."

It was four hours before Tybalt greeted him in the hall of his flat, not seeming to mind when Ianto sank onto the floor next to the door and held him close all night.

Author's Note: Edited to add line break, thanks to WickedWitchoftheSE