Author's Note: Harriet, Lizzy, Lucy, Andrea, many glomps and cookies to you all. Huge thank you to everyone who has favourited this or alerted it or me, I hope you're still enjoying the ride as much as you were when you started. I do apologise for this chapter; it was cracky and a bit weird, but then I deleted all that and it went a bit... well much like the rest of the story really.

Jack grinned at Ianto as he unlocked the visitor centre's door. "So much has come through here, we got residents passes for a while, but that only works during the day. Eventually they just gave me the key, rather than having to get someone out of bed to let us in. Much quicker," he explained.

Ianto made a note on an invisible clipboard. "Uses his initiative, finds simple solutions to problems. That's good."

Jack laughed and looked chastened when Tosh shushed him. "Sorry, Tosh. Where are we going?"

"It's on the grass, moving around."

"Any idea what it is?" Ianto asked, holding the door open for her to follow Jack through.

"Only that it has tentacles," she told them, turning away when Jack sniggered. "I wish you'd take it seriously, Jack."

"Sorry," he looked contrite, but winked at Ianto when Tosh wasn't looking. "Tentacles though..."

"There it is!" Ianto pointed over his shoulder to the dark shadow moving across the grass. "It's heading toward the keep."

"That's a bit intelligent," Jack complained, breaking into a run. "Ianto, Tosh, stick close."

They kept as low as they could as they ran across towards it, swinging around to come between it and the ancient keep. Jack grabbed Tosh's arm and stopped her. "Head up into the keep, there's the key. Find somewhere we can keep it."

"What are you going to do?" but he'd gone, chasing after Ianto who was on a collision course with the tentacled foe.

"Ianto!" he yelled, dispensing with their attempt to approach unnoticed now that Ianto and the thing were nearly on top of each other. Jack pulled his gun, swore, ran, and then Ianto was past it, drawing its attention. "You're very bad for my blood pressure," Jack growled.

The alien, a Levora if his memory served him correctly had been momentarily distracted when Jack yelled for Ianto, but the lapse had only been enough for Ianto to get past it. Now its attention was fully fixed on the younger man. The younger, so much more vulnerable man... Jack's heart jumped into his throat and restricted his breathing, so he kept going on adrenaline. "Hey!"

A tentacle lashed out at him and he dodged it, then Ianto's arms were gripped behind him in two tentacles and Jack's heart had dropped to his knees. "Let him go."

"Or what?" It had no discernible features, nor anywhere that Jack could easily shoot. He swore under his breath and chanced a glance at Ianto, who was struggling hard. "You will let me go in peace, and I will release him."

"I can't do that," he called. "The people of this world don't know about aliens, you can't just wander around here."

"I don't intend to wander around," it snarled. "I intend to take this world. Stay back!"

Jack had taken a step towards them, but the look of pain on Ianto's face, more than the alien's words, stopped him. "What do you want?"

"No, Jack," Ianto snapped. "You can't..." he screamed suddenly, and Jack was close enough to hear the sickening crack as the alien twisted one of his arms violently. "Jack."

"Let him go," he growled. "Just let him go."

"Or what?" Ianto yelled again and dropped to his knees next to the alien, Jack had a clear shot...

"Or that," he breathed out as he pulled the trigger, relieved when the shot found its mark. The alien screamed and its tentacles whipped out, throwing Ianto across the grass. Jack fired until his Webley was empty and the tentacled mass was still, then advanced on it, fishing for more rounds in his pocket and loading them. There was no need, though, it was dead. "Why?"

Ianto groaned and Jack span, running to him and dropping to his knees. "What were you thinking?" he whispered, turning him gently and examining his arm. "That's broken."

"Really?" Ianto bit out through gritted teeth, squeezing on Jack's forearm with his uninjured hand. "I hadn't noticed."

"Hey, hey," he shushed him and pulled the first arm out of its sleeve. "This will hurt, I'm sorry."

Ianto groaned and bit his lips so hard that it bled; his knuckles turned white whilst Jack, as gently and carefully as he could, slipped the other jacket sleeve off his broken arm. "Let it out, Ianto. If you need to yell, just do it."

"Fuck," Ianto swore. "Shit, ow. How bad is it?"

Jack ran his fingers along it lightly and winced in sympathy. "That's bad, I'll call Owen."

Tosh came running down the hill towards them. "Ianto, what's wrong? I heard your..."

"Scream, is the word you're looking for, I think," he smiled tightly at her and grimaced again when Jack shifted his arm. "There's a first aid kit in the visitor centre, Tosh. Can you get it for me?"

"Of course," she took off towards the main entrance.

Ianto shrugged off Jack's fussing and tried to stand up. "Okay, now I need some help," he closed his eyes and let Jack help him to his feet, swaying slightly as he fought the nauseating waves of pain. Eventually he became aware of Jack's light touch on the small of his back, and opened his eyes to see both Jack and Tosh watching him concernedly. "I'm okay."

"I'm taking you to hospital," Jack told him, holding up the sling he'd got from the first aid kit before he helped Ianto into it. He dropped his voice to a whisper, "What were you thinking? You should never have got that close to it."

"I didn't realise you'd fallen behind," he hissed, then settled his arm more comfortably. "Once I realised, I figured we could get one on either side of it, split its attention."

"Good plan, as long as your partner knows about it beforehand. Otherwise he just worries," his hands finally stilled resting on Ianto's waist. "You okay?"

"It hurts, but I'll live. I'm sorry, Jack, I should have been more careful," he shook his head when Jack made to speak. "Jack, if it were anyone else, you'd be yelling now. This is why, this is one of the reasons I had to leave."

Jack swallowed and nodded. "I was going to wait until you weren't dizzy with the pain and probably concussed."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," he sighed and cupped Ianto's cheek, pressing their foreheads together. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"I didn't exactly mean to do it this time," he pointed out, pulling away reluctantly and supporting his arm. "Can we get some painkillers, please?"

"Yeah, we'll drop Tosh off on the Plass and I'll take you to the hospital."

"Jack..."

"Don't argue, Ianto," he dropped his hands and turned away.

"You'll have to wait for ages in casualty, Jack," Tosh pointed out. "And Owen's on his way in."

He hesitated. "Okay. Tosh, can you bring the SUV in? I'll get this thing ready to load up. Ianto, stay out of harm's way."

Ianto nodded and went to lean against the wall of the keep, closing his eyes and dropping his head against the drizzle that was starting. He was cold, his arm was throbbing, Jack was mad at him and his mind was all over the place, so he was probably concussed. He just wanted to sit down. The next thing he knew, Jack's hands on his waist and shoulder and the wall behind him were the only things keeping him upright. "Ianto," Jack sounded cross. "Ianto, stay with me. Ianto?" A note of panic was creeping into his voice.

"I'm here," he blinked fiercely, shaking off the headache and only making it worse. "I think I hit my head."

"Yeah, you were," Jack reminded him. "You were thrown, and your arm is broken."

"Yep, I can tell," he sagged into Jack's arms. "I hate being concussed."

"It's not fun," Jack agreed, leaning back slightly so that he could put his arms around Ianto and hold him. "You scared me, you know that?" He rocked them both, watching the SUV approaching from the main entrance. "You were right to leave, I think. You're not entirely safe there, but you're safer than you are in Cardiff. I just want you safe."

"You can't agree with me now, Jack," he protested. "Not when I'm plotting my return."

"Ianto..."

He shook his head fiercely and groaned as his brain rattled. "I don't want to leave you, Jack."

"And I don't want to lose you," Jack pushed him back and squeezed his shoulders, shaking him gently. "Don't you understand, Ianto? One day, I will have to stand there at your funeral and..."

"You'll be there?"

Jack closed his eyes tightly and tugged him into a hug. "I'll be there, I promise."

"See," Ianto sighed, "I was right."

Jack was stony and silent as they descended into the Hub, one arm wrapped around Ianto's waist and the fingers of the other tapping against his leg. Ianto, for his part, was torn between laughing, crying and throwing up, with a vague possibility of just going to sleep on Jack's shoulder. It had taken him so long and so much to realise that Jack felt too deeply for him. Now that he'd realised that he was wrong, Jack agreed with him. Maybe he was right all along. He sighed heavily and groaned as the proximity alarms sounded and the cog door rolled back.

"Med bay, for this one," Owen was already pulling his gloves on. "I'm assuming he doesn't need stitches?"

"You're the doctor," Jack told him, leading Ianto down there and stepping back. "I'll be in my office."

Owen pointed at Jack's retreating figure over his shoulder with a thumb. "What did you do?"

Ianto sighed. "Broke my arm and got thrown across Cardiff Castle by a tentacle squid thing."

"I meant... Ah, see what you mean," he helped Ianto to get his arm out of the sling. "I've got to get it out of the sleeve too, mate."

"I know, go for the seams, will you? Then I can fix it, I like this shirt."

"You mean Jack likes this shirt," Owen grumbled. "I'm not a seamstress, mate, the shirt's a goner."

He sighed, "Fine," and let Owen carry on with his work.

"Name?" Jack's voice woke him and he checked the clock, scrubbing his eyes and double checking the numbers.

"Ianto Alwyn Jones, born August 19th 1983. And it's four minutes past two in the morning."

"It is," Jack came and sat next to him on the bed. "How's your arm?"

"Throbbing."

"Head?"

"Better," he reached out for Jack's hand and laced their fingers together. "I'm sorry, I was stupid today."

Jack nodded. "You were."

He sighed and looked at the bed beside him. "It's late, are you coming to bed?"

"No," Jack's face was shadowed, but his voice was all Ianto needed to know what he was thinking. "Still tidying up after today."

"Jack," he refused to let go when Jack pulled away. "I haven't seen you all day."

"It's been a busy day," Jack stood up. "I should..."

"You never have to work at this time of the night, Jack. Only when you'd rather be doing that than something else," Jack was looking away from him, his breathing the only answer. "We only have three nights, and I have a broken arm. Can we at least enjoy each other's company."

"One last time?" Jack sat back down again slowly. "I don't know if I can, Ianto. I can't watch you walk away and not..."

"Jack, I have every intention of coming back," he told him. "I've tried living without you, and I don't want any of it."

Jack watched him in the darkness, probably seeing far more than Ianto was, and then he was kissing Ianto fiercely and possessively, holding him close in the night.