Author's Note: A nice long, fluffy chapter for you to enjoy here before I start torturing them again. Also an apology and a reassurance. This is not going on hiatus, and it is not being abandoned, but it is going slightly lower down my priorities list, because it is National Novel Writing Month and I am once again attempting the madness. I'm aiming to have at least once chapter of this up a week, and a chapter of my NaNo up every day. First chapter will be going up tonight, but it is M rated, so watch out for it! I hope you'll enjoy both.

Ianto dropped his keys on the table by the door and scooped Tybalt up to stop him escaping. He took his overcoat off with difficulty and took Tybalt through to the kitchen, where he dropped him onto the floor and refilled his bowl. He worked quietly, preparing his lunch and tidying up as he went, changing out of his suit and into jeans and a shirt, packing an overnight bag and tidying his room up, sorting the recycling and rubbish out and finally sitting down to eat his lunch, ready to leave for Cardiff less than half an hour after he got home. "I'm sorry, Tyb," he apologised, leaning against the counter with Tybalt cradled in one arm and tickled his tummy with the other hand. I'm leaving you again, but only for one night. I'll be back late tomorrow night. Why am I telling you this? It's not like you understand," he flipped him over and persuaded him to sit on his shoulder, then bent gingerly to pick up his food bowl and refill it. "You'll be alright without me for one night. Not sure what we're going to do with you when I go to the conference, though. Nem could kittensit, I suppose..."

Tybalt, of course, didn't answer. Ianto sighed and set him down, stroking him a couple more times and then letting him wander off into the living room. When he followed him through to pick up his bag, Tybalt was curled up on the end of the sofa, fast asleep with his one black paw over his nose. Ianto was still grinning when he locked the door behind himself and pressed the speed dial for Jack, shoving his phone back in his pocket with the headphones in. He decided on the stairs, as it gave him longer to talk, and hitched his bag up on his shoulder. "Heya, I'm just setting off."

"Good," Jack acknowledged. "Any idea what time you'll be here?"

"I'd give it five hours, just to be safe, so probably about seven. I'll call you once I get closer to Cardiff though."

"Okay, well I'll call and reserve a table for eight for seven then, and we can go bowling afterwards," Jack told him, keys clacking in the background telling Ianto that Jack had him on speakerphone. "Pizza alright."

"You know me," Ianto told him as he swung himself around the corner of the stairs. "Pizza is always alright."

Jack laughed. "Yeah, same for all of us. You know Rhys is coming, right?"

"Yeah, I do, Gwen tweeted about it," he rolled his eyes. "Twitter is a very dangerous invention."

"It is," Jack agreed, pointing out, "although we've all managed not to give anything away."

"Yeah. Afternoon Nem, have a good weekend," he greeted his neighbor as they passed on the stairs. "One floor left to go."

"Who's Nem?"

"She lives across the landing from me and kittensits occasionally," he explained, swinging around the last corner so that the front door was in sight. "Very pretty girl."

"Are you trying to make me jealous, Mr Jones?"

"Trying."

"Failing," Jack chuckled. "You'll have to sound less disinterested when talking to them to succeed."

"Well hello..." he trailed off as he shouldered the door open. "Like that?"

"Just like that," he agreed. "I can't wait to see you tonight. All of you, stretched..."

"Jack," Ianto stopped him. "I can cope with sweet and romantic when I'm driving, even if it does make me giggle, but you do pick the most inappropriate places to try it on," he fished in his pocket for his keys and unlocked the driver's door, dumping his bag on the passenger seat as he flopped in and contorting strangely to get his phone out of his pocket. "Right, I'm going to concentrate on driving now, I'll call you again when I get closer."

"Alright," Jack relented. "Take care, see you at the restaurant?"

"Yep, love you."

"Good."

He laughed. "Bye Jack."

The drive would have been quiet, were it not for the blasting heavy metal he had on repeat at the moment. As it was, it was loud but fun, and he made exceptional time (not at all due to the scientifically proven fact that you drive faster with faster music, and definitely not to the fact that he knew that if he got a speeding ticket he could just get Tosh to wipe it for him). Still, the sun had set by the time he reached Cardiff and let Jack know that he was close, and he had to let himself in to the underground car park below the Millennium Centre, where he parked next to the SUV. His MX5 looked tiny and impractical next to it, but ever so pretty. That was probably why Owen was sniggering.

He rolled his eyes and swung out of the car, leaving his bag on the passenger seat and flicking one finger up at Owen. "I like it, it's cute," he defended it. "And the Top Gear team like it."

"They do, I'll give you that," Owen agreed. "I'd have thought you'd be too tall for it though, mate."

"Nope, I mean the legroom's not great, but it's bearable," he shrugged. "Anyway, to what do I owe the honour?"

"Eh? Oh, I was the last one in and was heading out this way to dump some stuff in my car when I heard the alarms going, so I figured I'd wait and see your new wheels."

"You're allowed to admit that you missed me," Ianto teased, bumping Owen's shoulder with his own.

"Yeah, well, we all do. Happy now? At least Jack's tolerable these days," he told him. "But you really don't want to see the state of the Hub."

Ianto closed his eyes and growled in frustration. "I've only been gone a week, how can you get it so bad in a week?"

Owen shrugged. "Pure skill."

They rode the lift up to the ground floor and wended their way through the early evening crowds to the restaurant where the rest of the team were waiting. Ianto smiled when he saw that Jack had saved a seat for him in the booth seats and squeezed past Tosh to slide in next to him, greeting him with a kiss as Owen dropped into the chair between Tosh and Mark, who was sitting opposite Jack next to Jacqui. Rhys didn't look impressed to have the arm of the booth between him and Gwen, but one of the three couples around the table had to be separated like that. "Hey," Rhys greeted him, raising his glass. "Good drive over?"

Owen sniggered and Ianto rolled his eyes, picking up his glass with one hand and resting his other on Jack's leg under the table. "Really good, I got a new car a couple of weeks ago and I've not really had the chance to take it anywhere yet."

"Oh yeah, what did you get?"

"MX5," he said and was ready to flick his beermat at Owen when he laughed out loud, returning his hand to Jack's leg again. "And it was nice enough today to do it with the top down, which makes a change."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Rhys agreed. "So what's your job in London?"

He took a sip of his drink as he thought and Jack's hand finally dropped on top of his. "I work for the government still," he said. "Security at Downing Street."

"Seriously," Rhys asked, impressed. "So you see the Prime Minister?"

"I work for him," Ianto confirmed. "I'm on his personal defence staff."

"Wow," Rhys whistled. "That is serious. Worth leaving Cardiff for, certainly."

"Anything is worth leaving Cardiff for," Owen remarked, earning him good-natured offence from the natives. "What? It is!"

Ianto squeezed Jack's hand and shared a soft smile with him. "Maybe, but some things are worth staying for."

Rhys choked on his drink and spluttered a bit, but at a look from his fiancée he fell silent again. Jack laughed at him and released Ianto's hand, draping his arm around his shoulder and pulling him in to kiss him again. Owen fake gagged and Tosh shoved him, laughing gently. Jack beamed, not taking his eyes off Ianto. "I'm glad you decided to come back, because otherwise I would have had to follow you."

"So, you two..." Rhys trailed off.

Jack gestured for Ianto's other hand and held it so that Rhys could see the ring. "I have staked my claim," he told him with a grin.

Rhys stared from one to the other for a while, then leaned back in his chair again. "Should have known, no one that good looking is ever straight."

"Categories," Jack rolled his eyes, releasing Ianto's hand and reclaiming the other on his leg.

Sometimes, on nights like these, they seemed like such a normal group of friends. They bantered around the table, sharing four huge pizzas between them followed by several bowls of profiteroles, and Rhys's presence kept the discussion away from aliens and the Rift and the usual weirdness and madness of their lives. Jack and Ianto lavished attention on each other constantly, sharing gentle touches and glances that they didn't really consciously notice. It was nearly eight by the time they finished eating and headed across to the bowling alley. During the usual jostling for teams, Rhys suggested boys versus girls and then, after some rapid mental maths, gamely volunteered himself as a girl. The problem with this arrangement was that Rhys and Gwen were very good, Tosh was technically expert and Jacqui was reasonably okay, whilst Owen and Jack were useless, Ianto was passable on a good day (which it wasn't) and Martin was good. It was a predictably ignominious defeat to the boys, not that any of them really minded. It wasn't about winning, this time, it was about pretending that they were normal, just for one night.

Ianto watched Jack at the bar, and the valiant attempts of the girl trying to charm him. He started out thinking that she was far too young for him anyway, but then realised that they were all too young for Jack at the end of the day, and that she probably wasn't much short of Ianto's age anyway. Jack caught his gaze across the room and Ianto finally took pity on him, standing up and working his way through to Jack's side, where he wrapped an arm around him and leaned into him, not even glancing at the girl as he held Jack's gaze. "Do you want a hand?"

"Yes please," Jack rested his hand on the small of Ianto's back and turned slightly so that he could introduce him to the girl. "Ianto, this is Harrie. Ianto's my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you," she grinned up at him, clearly genuinely meaning it like she hadn't meant the flirting. "I was just saying to Jack that they take forever to serve you in here."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Always a problem, but it is busy tonight."

"I don't care, I need a drink!" she pouted and he had to laugh.

Jack finally caught the attention of a bartender and insisted on buying Harrie's drink as well, then he and Ianto returned to their group with the drinks and she returned to her friends. They sat down on the bench and watched Jacqui taking her turn again, with Jack's arm wrapped around Ianto's shoulders.

Just after midnight, Ianto dropped the last of the tissues into the bin and rolled back over to face Jack; he smiled at the slightly spaced-out look on Jack's face and took his right hand in his own left, tugging on it to pull Jack up into his arms and settling back down to run fingers through Jack's sweat-soaked hair and press kisses to his forehead. Jack was a solid, comfortable weight on his chest, and his breath was hot and moist against his neck; eventually his breathing evened out and he chuckled, propping himself up to look down at Ianto, searching his face for something – Ianto couldn't imagine what. He raised his eyebrows when Jack raised his hand to brush one finger gently down his nose and across his lips, then cup his cheek gently, bending close to brush their lips together. "You missed me," he stated.

"Yeah, I did," he agreed. "I think I need some more gun training, I missed you so much."

It took Jack a moment to get it, but once he did, his arms gave way because he was laughing so hard. The sudden arrival of Jack's weight on his chest again winded Ianto, and he pushed at him exasperatedly, rubbing his collarbone where Jack's forehead had hit it. "It wasn't that funny, and did that hurt?"

Jack rolled onto his back and let Ianto sit up, so that he was now gazing up at him, still chuckling, but with misty eyes. "I want you to come back," he told him, reaching for his hand. "I don't want to have to think about putting you back on the train, or watching you leave in your car. I want things to go back to how they were."

"I do too," Ianto confirmed, teasing his fingers through Jack's hair again and noticing again that his finger was bare. Even though the ring was on the bedside cabinet behind him, safely out of the way, he felt naked without it. Well, he was naked, but that was beside the point. "I... I love London, I love being back there, because I've remembered why I fell in love with it in the first place, and why so many of my memories from there are so good, but," he covered Jack's lips with two fingers, stopping the inevitable offer for Jack to join him there. "But I love being back there even more for the fact that it's reminded me why I fell in love with you, and why we belong here. Together," he finished, lifting his fingers to let Jack speak.

"If you wanted," Jack started and Ianto smiled. "If you wanted, I could come to London. The work there is stuff that we could do together, and I don't need to be here, really."

"Yes you do," Ianto told him. "Cardiff needs you, the Rift needs you, the whole world needs you to be here. Besides, London's a young man's game, and I couldn't enjoy it if we lived there, I'd be begging you to take me away. I only enjoy it, because home is here, and London feels like just a flying visit. I always know that at the end of the day I could come back here. The only hold London has on me is my work, and once that's done I can come back home, to you."

"Okay," Ianto caught sight of himself in the hall mirror and ran his fingers through his hair, restyling it slightly messier. "Your parents, Franklin and Lucia, are both dead, but they were estranged, so you went to live with your dad in Illinois, whilst your sister, Alice, stayed with your mum in Chester. She now lives in Cardiff too, but you've not been close since you were split up at such a young age. She has a son called Steven,"

"I really hope you get to meet them soon," Jack told him as he wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist from behind and admired him in the mirror.

"Hmm," Ianto murmured non-committally, leaning back into Jack and covering his arms with his own. He'd heard quite a lot about Jack's relationship with his daughter and grandson and was upset with the way she'd pushed Jack out of her life so much, but was keeping his opinions to himself rather than hear Jack blame himself again. "We make a good looking couple," he commented instead.

"We do," Jack agreed, resting their cheeks together, then turning his head to kiss the corner of Ianto's mouth. "Do you think Rhiannon will like me?"

Ianto returned his attention to Jack's expression in the mirror and frowned, reaching his hand up to cup Jack's cheek and hold their gazes locked. "Captain Jack Harkness, my sister will love you so much that I will have to beat her off with a stick. My brother-in-law is a twat, and even he will love you, although possibly not in the same way."

"Possibly?"

"Well, with you anything's possible," he turned around in Jack's arms and framed his face with both hands, leaning in to kiss him. "They will love you as much as I do, I promise."

Jack pulled him closer again and rested one hand on the back of his neck, holding him in place whilst he plundered his mouth, and Ianto's hands slid to Jack's neck, fingers playing with soft, dark hair. "But what if they don't?" he asked eventually.

"Then we'll elope, and they can put up or shut up," Ianto told him with finality, giving him one more kiss and stepping away so that he could go check how things were getting on in the kitchen. "I can't choose my family, Jack, but I can choose you," he finished in a whisper, "I will always choose you."

Jack was leaning in the doorway with his hands in his pockets and a gentle smirk on his lips. He was wearing black trousers and a crisp white shirt that on anynoe else would have looked severe, but on Jack they seemed somehow exotic and romantic; he took Ianto's breath away as he held out a hand. "Care to dance, Mr Jones?"

He hesitated, but relented as Jack wiggled his fingers, beckoning him across the room and into his arms. Jack hummed quietly and Ianto found the beat, moving closer and taking the lead. "I feel under dressed next to you," he confided with a chuckle. "Although, you know, it makes a nice change."

Jack laughed and twirled Ianto around, running his gaze up and down Ianto's body, his lecherous grin spoiled by the genuine warmth in his eyes. "You'll do," he ran his hands down Ianto's ams, taking his hands and bringing them to his lips to kiss them. "I'd like to see you dress down more often, it makes you seem more..."

"More?" Ianto prompted him when he trailed off.

"More mine," Jack told him softly, his smile returning when Ianto laid his hands against his cheek. He continued to hold Ianto's other hand with one of his own and placed the other on the small of his back, pulling him flush against him again. "When you're wearing your suits, I feel I need to be professional," he chuckled when Ianto's eyebrows shot up. "Alright, so I'm good at ignoring my inner Captain, but..." he sighed and moved even closer, resting his cheek against Ianto's cheek and swaying again. "I don't know."

"I think I do," Ianto told him and shifted his hand on his shoulder. "It's like your coat, it's a front we present to the world."

"I..." Jack frowned and sighed. "Yeah, it is. Would you rather I don't wear the coat, then?"

Ianto chuckled. "Well, it does make you look incredibly dashing," he pulled back as the doorbell rang. "Just, maybe not in the house?"

Jack grinned and went to lean as casually as he could in the kitchen doorway as Ianto opened the door to his sister and her family. The little boy glared at him suspiciously from next to his dad, clearly uncomfortable in his smart shirt, whilst the little girl peered out at him from behind her mum's legs. Ianto was shaking his brother-in-law's hand and then moved on to kiss his sister on the cheek. "Jack, this is Rhiannon, my sister."

He moved from the doorway and took her hand, raising it to his lips to kiss it. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Johnny," Johnny told him, extending his hand and trying to crush Jack's. Jack bit back a smile. "And this is Mica and David, say hello."

"Hello," they chorused, staring up at him.

"Hi," he grinned, saluting them casually, then he stepped back and slipped his arm around Ianto's waist.

"And this is Jack," Ianto looked round at him and smiled. "My partner."

He was glad that he'd forewarned Rhiannon, because even as it was she looked like she only just believed it now she'd met Jack. Still, she beamed at him. "Ianto's told us so much about you, Jack."

He grinned and winked. "We'll have to compare notes."

Johnny was more to the point. "Would never have expected it of you, Ianto mate, thoguht you were a women only bloke?"

Ianto smiled tightly. "Yeah, me neither. But then, sometimes you'll meet someone," he glanced at Jack and his smile warmed again. "And the labels just don't matter."

Just after seven that evening, Ianto closed and locked the door behind his family again and leaned against it, running his hands over his face and sighing heavily. He closed his eyes behind his hands and listened to Jack's footsteps coming closer, then felt himself gathered into Jack's arms and held against his warm, broad chest, with Jack's cheek pressed against the top of his head and one hand running up and down his spine. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," Ianto reassured him, sliding his arms around Jack and holding on. "Just tired. I forgot how exhausting the kids are."

Jack chuckled and let Ianto lean against him. "You think it went well?"

"Yeah, I do. Rhiannon and the kids love you, even Johnny likes you. Did we really promise Mica that she can be a flower girl?" he asked with a laugh, raising his head to rest it on Jack's shoulder instead.

"Yeah, and that David can be the ring bearer. And I think Rhiannon wants to give you away."

He thought about this for a moment, then shook his head. "No, no way am I being given away. She can do a speech, the toasts, whatever, but I am not being given away."

Jack laughed and stepped back, taking his hand and leading him through to the living room, where he pushed him down onto the sofa and went to pour them both a drink. "We should start thinking about dates," he suggested quietly.

"Hm?" Ianto looked up at him and accepted the glass of wine gratefully, then leaned back against the arm of the sofa so that Jack could sit next to him and lean back against him, with one of Ianto's arms around his waist. "Well, by the end of the UNIT conference, we should have at least a sketchy timeframe for the recruitment procedures in London."

"Okay," Jack agreed softly.

Ianto tightened his arm around Jack's waist. "What's up?"

He didn't answer for a while, sipping slowly from his glass, but then he found and squeezed Ianto's hand. "Promise me you'll make it?"

"What?"

Jack laced their fingers together. "I worry, no, I'm terrified of losing you before we get there, that it'll be too late."

He sighed and kissed Jack behind the ear. "I'll make it, I promise."

The following night, Ianto leaned against his window with a bottle of beer and gazed out into the darkness, drinking occasionally. Tybalt was curled in the crook of his arm and purring loudly, rubbing his head against Ianto's chest as Ianto stroked him awkwardly. His phone rang and he beamed at his reflection, shifting Tybalt up to carry him more easily and putting his drink down on the coffee table to pick up the phone. "Jack, hi, how are you doing?"

"Not, not great," Jack told him, voice choked. "It's Owen."