Author's Note: I promised Harrie... So here it is *runs back to GP*

"It's Owen."

"Oh God," he sank to the seat and leaned back, closing his eyes and swallowing. "What, how, how is everyone?"

"We're coping, I guess, emotionally. I don't know..." Jack trailed off again and Ianto heard him sob. "I can't go back out there, not yet, they can't see me like this."

Ianto swallowed again and sat up. "I'll call and tell Ally and Gordon that I won't be in tomorrow and be with you as soon as I can."

"Ianto..."

"Don't argue, you need me," he insisted, reaching for his car keys. "You all need me. You'll be at the Hub?"

"All night, I suspect. Thank you, Ianto."

"Love you, Jack," he hung up and pressed his phone to his lips, closing his eyes tightly. Now he knew, he could feel Jack's pain, which explained the feeling of disquiet he'd had. His standard psychic training at Torchwood had prepared him for the basic, protecting against hostile mental attacks, stopping him projecting anxieties, the ability to break low level psychic controls. Since he'd left – got Jack back – they had both been working on their communication, so that they could, if they tried or the emotions were particularly strong, feel each other's emotions. Until now, it had been a slightly weird romantic thing, the chance to bask in the feeling of being loved and cherished when they went to bed alone at nights. Now, though, he could feel Jack's pain, guilt, and desolation as his captain pulled himself together to put on a brave face for his team. Ianto smiled sadly and concentrated on how much he loved him, then apologetically rebuilt his barriers and stood up. Tybalt, seeming to think that this meant he was about to be fed, jumped down from the armchair and twisted around his ankles. "Sorry Tyb, but no, it's not..."

He trailed off and bent down to stroke him, smiling when he arched up into his hand and his tail wrapped around his wrist. "Well, actually, now you mention it..."

It was nearly midnight when he pulled into the parking space and rested his head against the steering wheel. All he really wanted to do was get in there, crawl into bed with Jack in their room and go to sleep, but that was unlikely to happen. He looked down at the passenger seat and chuckled, picking Tybalt up with one hand and cradling him against his chest. "I wish I could sleep so easily, Tyb," he scratched behind his ears with the tip of his finger and opened the door, looking up at Gwen who had come to meet him. "Heya, Gwen," he didn't ask how they were doing, didn't offer condolences – he was one of them, he didn't need to ask.

She gave him a watery smile and took the bag he passed her. "Thanks for coming so quickly, Ianto. I think Jack needs you here."

"I know he does," he agreed, frowning slightly. "Where is he, I thought he'd meet me?"

"Well, I don't know," she confided. "He, Martha was about to start the autopsy, about an hour ago. We said that we should wait for you, but Jack said that he didn't want you to have to see it, and then he came running in, told her to stop until he got back and left," she shrugged in a bewildered fashion. "Didn't say where he was going."

He groaned and swung out of the car, keeping a firm hold on Tybalt as he tried to escape. Jack had closed himself off again, leaving Ianto with no way of making sure he was alright. He sighed and took the bag back from Gwen, swapping it for Tybalt. "Gwen, meet the cat."

She held him up to eye level and cooed happily, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "He is adorable! What are you going to do with him, though?"

"Well," he locked the car and put his hand in the small of Gwen's back, steering her towards the Hub door. "First I'm going to give Tosh something to hug. Then I'm going to put him down in our room until I manage to persuade Jack to let me take him home, at which point Tyb will come home with us."

She smiled sadly and nodded, ducking under his arm to go through the door as he held it open. "Good, it's about time."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess it is."

They walked down the long, steep flight of stairs in silence, the occasional drip and the regular beat of their footsteps the only accompaniment. Tybalt peered over Gwen's shoulder at him and rubbed his cheek against her ear. When they got to the bottom and pushed open the small, heavy door, the Hub was in an eerie quiet. It was as though the place had gained a life through all the years it had been lived in and exposed to the weirdness it hosted, and that it too was in mourning for a friend lost. Tosh, sitting on the sofa, looked up at their entry and stood to greet him. He dropped his bag at the side of her desk and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her fiercely. She shuddered through a sigh and buried her face in his chest for just a moment, then pushed him away slightly and wiped at her eyes. "Hey, Ianto, you..."

"I know," he whispered, releasing her. "Any sign of Jack yet?"

"Nothing," the stranger in the Hub told him and he turned to face her, controlling his features. "I'm Doctor Martha Jones, UNIT, we've exchanged emails."

"Yeah, Jack told me that you were here, glad to meet you, although..." he shook her hand and glanced towards the autopsy bay.

Martha understood his silence. "I'm sorry it had to be like this," she sighed. "You always know that it could be you next, don't you? But you never expect it to be someone else."

Jacqui appeared from the kitchenette with a tray of coffee, followed by Martin with a plate full of sandwiches. "Hey, Ianto."

"Heya Jacs, Martin. Welcome to Torchwood," he sighed and took the tray off her. "Your last week here too."

Jacqui was pale, although he didn't think she'd been crying. Certainly reconsidering her future. Martin set the tray down on the end of a desk and put his arm around her waist, hugging her to his side. "We're going to head downstairs," he told Ianto. 'Out of the way', he didn't add.

Ianto nodded and smiled fondly, but sadly, as he watched them go. For both of them, it was their first real exposure to the true nature of Torchwood. For the rest of them, it had already come too often.

Gwen tapped him on the shoulder and passed Tybalt back to him. "I'm going to go and put some tea on, okay?"

"Thanks, Gwen," Martha smiled, clearly holding them together as best she could in Jack's absence. "Ianto, do you want to get settled in, I assume you know..."

"Yeah, Martha, I know where I'm going," he managed a small smile and a hidden sigh, picking up his bag and cupping Tybalt to his shoulder. "If he gets back, tell him where I am and tell me."

He trudged down the corridors to the room that he and Jack shared when he was here and pushed open the door, shutting it before he set Tybalt down on the bed. The kitten, once released, bounced off the bed to explore the room and pawed at the door to be let out. "Sorry, but no, it's dangerous out there," he told him, pulling his jumper off followed by his T shirt, and folding them neatly into his drawer. Topless, he went to the wardrobe and picked out a red shirt, a red and black tie and Jack's favourite three piece suit. It would take a lot to get a real smile out of Jack tonight, and if wearing the suit that he loved and the colour he loved helped, Ianto could cope with that. He dressed quickly, swapping his trainers for smart black shoes to complete the look, very glad that he had thought to leave some suits here.

His fob-watch was in London, on his chest of drawers, he realised. With a sigh, he searched through his 'magpie box' under the bed and pulled out his stopwatch and his fob-watch chain. The waistcoat went on, then the stopwatch into the right-hand pocket, with the chain clipped into the left-hand pocket. With the jacket over his arm, he checked that Tybalt was still otherwise engaged and slipped out of the room, promising to return soon to feed him.

"Still no sign?" he asked, stopping by the sofa to pull his jacket on.

Gwen shook her head and sat down at Tosh's station. "I don't know what's taking him so..." the alarms blared to tell them that the lift was approaching. "See, that's all we needed to do, start talking about him."

Ianto indicated that they should stay where they were and moved so quickly that he was out in the open in full view of the door, and almost out of sight from where Tosh, Martha and Gwen gathered around the sofa, by the time Jack stepped through the door, holding a box. Ianto took in Jack's appearance, the signs that he had died at least once on his quest, and released his breath, jogging down the steps to Jack's level and framing his face with his hands, meeting him in a kiss. "Hi," he whispered, dropping one hand to wrap his arm around Jack's back and slipping the other around to the back of his neck.

Jack reciprocated the hug with his free hand and shook in Ianto's arms, staying there, holding him close until he was back under control. His smile was weak but genuine when he let him go and kissed him again. "Hi," he breathed, holding Ianto at arm's length and brushing his thumb across his cheek gently. "Lousy excuse to see each other."

"Yeah, just a bit," he agreed. The box under Jack's arm caught his eye and he gestured to it. "What have you got?"

Jack glanced down to it, then up to the girls who were watching them. "My office, I'll show you."

06:42. Ianto stared at the clock on the dashboard groggily and did the maths to realise that he could get into work not-unreasonably late if he tried. After all, he'd told them that he wasn't coming in because a friend had died, and the friend was now not-dead. The hyphen was essential.

06:43. Nothing he could do with the numbers to make them match up. If he drove back to London, he'd kill himself, and probably someone else too. But he'd make it to work. Two minutes and his alarm would go off, unheeded, in London. He should have turned it off before he left, it'd sing to itself all day.

06:44. Zero times six, plus four, equals four. "Ianto?" he started and looked round into Jack's eyes and realised that they had come to a stop in the car park again, and he and Jack were the only ones left in the car. "Ianto, are you okay?"

He smiled to himself, 06:45, his alarm was going off. "Exhausted," he sighed, relaxing back into his seat and groaning with reluctance as he unfastened his safety belt. "Did I fall asleep?"

"I don't think so," Jack got out in the middle of the sentence and came around to open his door for him. "Just zoned out. I dropped Martha and Owen on the Plass."

"Good idea," he stretched and rolled his shoulders, letting the cold morning air wake him up a bit. "Hell of a day."

"Yeah," Jack was watching him with one of those small, private smiles. "Come on, bed time."

They entered through the back staircase again and took the passage that led into the new living quarters. When they entered the corridor, they could hear Martha and Owen far down at the other end, where the stark walls of the medical bay magnified the sounds of their conversations as they worked. Jack opened the door to their room nearly silently and stopped in the doorway. "Ianto, is that..."

Ianto smiled softly and put his hands on Jack's hips, pushing him into the room and out of the way so that he could close the door before Tybalt realised it was open. He left Jack standing by the door and sat on the edge of the bed, scooping Tybalt up with both hands, then changed his hold so that he was cradled in one arm and patted the bed next to him with his free hand. "Come on, this it Tybalt..."

Jack sat next to him and wrapped an arm around his waist, eyes fixed on the purring ball of fur peering up at him. "Hello Tybalt."

Ianto chuckled and tickled Tybalt's stomach. "He doesn't bite; here, you take him," Jack looked startled, as though Ianto had just suggested that Jack hold a baby that he hadn't known about, so he rolled his eyes and persuaded Tybalt to sit still on his lap, then stroked gently down his back. "Tybalt, this is your daddy, play nicely."

Jack choked and his gaze snapped up to meet Ianto's. His shocked expression turned soft and happy and he leaned in hesitantly, resting his free hand on Tybalt's back and teasing him gently, whilst holding onto Ianto's hip with the other hand. They brushed noses briefly, then pulled back and approached again. Ianto's hand cupped Jack's cheek and their lips met in a gentle caress of soft, chaste touches. They broke apart, not needing to take it any further at that moment, and rested their foreheads together, brushing their noses together in Eskimo kisses occasionally.

Ianto's hand slipped down to Jack's neck and he brushed at his pulse point with the pad of his thumb. "What happened today, Jack, where did you find the glove?"

Tybalt 'priaow'ed noisily and nudged Jack's hand. He forced a laugh and looked down at him, scratching the back of his neck whilst Ianto dropped his hand down to stroke Tybalt's back. Jack squeezed Ianto's waist but didn't look up. "I went to... a contact, long story, and she told me that there was another glove, and where I could find it... And warned me that there would be consequences..." he shuddered against Ianto. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Hey," Ianto took his hand and laced their fingers together, squeezing gently. "You did what you thought you had to. And, however it turned out, it's in the past. Owen's tough, he'll cope with it..."

Jack shook his head. "You're allowed to call me an idiot, I won't complain. If I'd been lying, maybe I'd feel better about it..."

"Lying about what?"

"About the code for the morgue," Jack chuckled thickly. "He changed them last week and, with you not around, he didn't tell anyone. Well, no one who'd remember."

"And you feel guilty for forgetting?"

He laughed and rested his head on Ianto's shoulder. "Yeah, I do. You know me too well."

"Well, maybe it's because I'm the only one who knows you so well that I'm the only one who's prepared to marry you," he suggested, twisting to kiss Jack on the top of the head. "Did you get hurt today?"

Jack shrugged. "The glove was in St Mary's church, it had drawn a crowd of Weevils... What?" Ianto's grip on his fingers had tightened suddenly and he looked up. "Ianto..."

"You died," he hurt for his partner, and reached around to crush him into a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"You would have died, Ianto, I can't risk that," he told him, shutting up when Ianto's lips descended on his. "You should sleep," he told him softly when they parted. "You're exhausted still."

"Yeah... he sighed and passed Tybalt into Jack's hands. "Hold the monster whilst I get changed?"

"Okay," he smiled down at Tybalt and scratched the back of his neck. "Just so you know, monster, he was my Ianto first."

Ianto grinned. "Don't worry, Jack, he's sleeping on the chair," he bent to fill Tybalt's bowl and gave Jack a fantastic view, then took the kitten off him and set him on the floor so that he could push Jack back onto the bed and lie beside him. "I want you to myself."