Author's Note: Wishing you all Nadolig Llawen and Blywyddyn Newydd Ar. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Jack caught the mug as it toppled and transferred it to the other side of the desk, then caught hold of Tybalt and dropped him onto the floor again. With a mewl, Tybalt made a scramble up Jack's leg onto his lap and Jack yelped. "Cat, claws!" he groaned and urged him to settle, then tried to go back to his work. "Sorry, Ianto, your pest just decided to use my leg as a ladder.

Ianto's deep laugh rumbled from the other end of the phone and Jack stroked his fingers through Tybalt's fur placatingly. "Sorry, Jack, I shouldn't laugh. Is he being a pest?"

"A bit," Jack admitted. "He is warm and cute though."

"I'll kiss it better for you later," Ianto promised him. "I can't wait to be home."

"I can't wait for you to be home either," Jack agreed. "How long do you think you're going to be now?"

"Probably half an hour. Do you want me to pick take-away up on my way home? And if so, do you want to order it and tell me where?"

"No it's okay, I've cooked. You sound like you'll be just about ready for bed when you get in."

"I'm already ready for bed," Ianto laughed dryly. "Sorry, I won't be very good company tonight."

"No problem. We've got all weekend and no long commutes next week," Jack smiled. "Although I'd better get on with this report if it's going to be ready in time."

"Yeah, okay, I'll leave you to it. See you soon."

Hanging up, Jack pushed Tybalt down again and leaned forwards to his report. He wanted it finished by the time that Ianto got there, rather than having it hanging over them during their weekend. It was heavy going even though he only had one month to write, he only had fifteen minutes before he needed to start on dinner for when Ianto got back. Gods he was domesticated. He gave it another ten minutes before he dislodged Tybalt and shut the computer down, then followed the cat through to the kitchen and fed him. Tybalt wound through his ankles, purring like a lawnmower all the time, until Jack put the bowl down for him and a better distraction appeared. Chuckling fondly, Jack turned the oven on to heat up the stew and the bread and set the table for two with mugs of hot chocolate. When Tybalt bolted out of the room towards the front door, presumably in the hope that Ianto would feed him, Jack got the food out of the oven and filled the bowls. "Hey honey, how was work?" he asked in a girly voice when Ianto appeared in the doorway.

Ianto laughed. "Shit, actually. Although Carla Bruni's sort of fun," Jack raised his eyebrows and sat down slowly and Ianto shrugged, dumping his bag on the floor and dropping gracelessly into the seat. "Meetings on immigration, nothing major. I just happened to meet her whilst she was waiting for Gordon and Sarkozy to finish their meeting. Dinner smells wonderful."

"Tuck in," Jack waved his spoon and reached for a slice of bread. "I found that report I was looking for, by the way. It was right where you said it would be."

"Of course," Ianto smiled smugly. "Did it have the information you needed?"

"It did; I'm nearly done now, actually. A bit more work before I'm ready to present it."

Ianto failed to hide a yawn and smiled sheepishly, waving a hand when Jack opened his mouth to speak. "I'm fine," he reassured. "I've got to get the rest of my stuff in from the car, but I can come and help once I've done that?"

"It's okay," Jack told him. "Like I said, nearly done. You get off to bed and I'll bring your stuff in from the car."

He shook his head. "I'll manage that much. I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all."

Jack conceded defeat and carried on eating. He cleared the table whilst Ianto brought his bags in, then returned to the living room to finish off his report. It took him the best part of an hour to wrap up the year and proofread it, but Ianto was still only half-asleep when Jack finally sent it off to Amanda at UNIT and slipped into the bedroom. One of Ianto's hands stoked Tybalt lazily and he sat up slightly when Jack pushed the door open fully and let the golden light of the landing spill onto the bed so that he could see Ianto properly. "You should be asleep," he told him gently, leaving the door open for light whilst he undressed.

"Trying," Ianto muttered, flopping onto his back as Tybalt leapt from the bed and tangled himself with Jack's ankles. "Monster wanted attention."

Jack chuckled and crouched to stroke him, then stepped over him to slide under the quilt, pressing himself against Ianto's side and resting one hand on his chest and his head on Ianto's upper arm. Ianto gripped his shoulder and pushed him slightly so that he curled around Ianto more and sighed, "Better."

"Sleep now?" Jack asked.

Ianto yawned on a laugh. "I don't think I really have a choice. 'night, Jack."

"Good night, John Boy," Jack smiled softly and whispered, "love you." Ianto just grunted and squeezed his shoulder a little tighter.

Ianto smiled and fought back a laugh at the sensation of Jack's fingers brushing across his chest languidly, teasing through his chest hair. He grunted and rubbed his thumb on Jack's shoulder. "What time is it?"

"Nine," Jack's tone was gentle and he pushed himself up off Ianto to look down at him. "Feeling better for that?"

"I should be," he sighed without opening his eyes. "I've slept for hours."

"And are you?"

He opened his eyes and pushed Jack down, then rolled onto his side to face him and ran his hand down his side. "Yeah, I am. Although I do have a dead shoulder."

Jack's eyes widened apologetically and he shifted closer, pushed Ianto onto his back and started to massage his shoulder. "Let me kiss it better for you?"

Ianto smiled and tangled his fingers in Jack's hair as his lips brushed along his collarbone to the curve of his shoulder, whisper-soft and gentle. He scratched at Jack's scalp and the warmth of his laugh danced over Ianto's skin before he trailed his kisses up Ianto's neck to his lips and leaned in further, light pressure of soft lips slightly chapped with the cold against his own. It was just getting interesting, Jack's hands framing his face and tilting his head for better access, when the familiar shriek of Jack's mobile killed the mood. Jack dove across the bed to knock it off the bedside table – probably not his intention, Ianto had to concede – and dangled off it to grab it. He'd just got hold of it when Ianto gave into the temptation and slapped his arse, which made him drop it again. Ianto bit his lip on a chuckle when Jack gave him a dark look, and nearly managed contrite. Contrite became concerned when Jack scrambled from the bed and started dressing one-handed, still reading through the message. "What is it?"

"Big alert," Jack told him. "A ship's entered our airspace and vanished off the radar in Whitchurch, Tosh and Owen are on their way there from the Hub, Gwen's joining us from home, I have to go and join them... what, oh Ianto no," he shook his head. "Stay here, we'll be okay."

"Not a chance," Ianto pulled his jeans on and grabbed his T shirt from the night before, not having had time to unpack the night before. "Owen's dead, and you always need as many hands on deck as you have available."

Jack hesitated, then got on with buttoning up his shirt. "Okay. You armed?"

"Gun inside the passenger seat in the MX5, my comms and things are in there with it."

"Can we take the MX5 with us, then? It's closer than mine, and my stuff's in the..."

"Yes, Jack, we'll take the MX5, but I get to drive," he finished lacing his boots and grabbed his phone just as Jack snapped his braces into place. "You know, you could react so much faster if you didn't do the belt and braces look."

"You might not believe this, but when I started wearing this I didn't spend quite so much time naked and draped around attractive young men," it turned out that Jack kept his gun inside a footstool that Ianto didn't recognise and he slipped it into his holster as he spoke. "It used to be practical and lend me an air of authority and nostalgia. Now it's just me."

Ianto held his coat out for him and setted it onto his broad shoulders, smoothing his palms down the back. "It wouldn't be you otherwise," he agreed.

Jack clipped his comms. in place and activated it as he turned back to Ianto. "Toshiko? Have you got a better location for us?" nodding at her reply, he followed Ianto out of the door and down the stairs to his car. Ianto got his kit out of the passenger seat and slipped his earpiece in before he let Jack in and got into the driver's seat himself. Jack leaned forwards to the Sat Nav and punched in the directions. "Whitchurch High School," he said shortly. "It's landed on one of the lawns; they've got it sealed off and trapped to make sure that no one enters or leaves, and they're just waiting for us."

Ianto nodded and moved into the flow of traffic on the main road, the windscreen wipers going at double time so that he could see through the rain. By the time they reached the school the weather had eased off a bit and they ran, heads down, into the main door of the school where Gwen was waiting for them. "It's on the lawn," she said as she led the way through the building to the stark white corridor that led around the edge of the lawn.

Tosh looked up from her scanners and gave them a smile. "Good morning. I'm picking up their shielding; it's an electromagnetic distortion field with with a high fractal index."

"That's fairly advanced," Jack mused aloud. "Have we had any communications?"

"No, they're not transmitting anything, I'm sure of it," she pushed her glasses back up her nose and looked out towards the invisible ship. "I think... Yes, their communication device is recognised. It's a Hylat 45 series, actually. And it's open for incoming communications."

Jack nodded and pulled his wrist strap out, programming it to search for the system. Once he found it he set it up to send a hologram message. "This is Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood," he started firmly. "Are you aware that Earth is off limits for interstellar contact?"

They waited for a response. After a couple of minutes a double beep indicated an incoming message and he opened it up for a live conversation. The hologram that appeared showed the captain of the ship, a humanoid with reptilian features and elaborate markings down its scaly skin. Jack saluted sharply and the captain made a simple hand gesture in return. "Apologies, Captain," the alien's voice was smooth, silty and sibilant, quite girly and melodic. "Emergency landing, complications in atmosphere. Short cut."

Jack inclined his head to show his acceptance and met its eyes again. "Do you require assistance?"

"Require metal. Soft, chemical strong. Jugra possible?"

He frowned and shook his head. "I could source Jugra for you, but it would take time, possibly weeks. Is it possible for you to unshield your ship?"

The captain nodded and turned to give orders in a language that fitted its voice perfectly and the smooth lines of the ship appeared on the grass. It was a sleek dull grey, as smooth as possible for entry and exit through the atmospheres of the planets it visited. Jack's eyes lit up when he saw it and he stepped towards the window. "Oh... An Instia Fitara. I haven't seen one of those in years! Beautiful ship."

"You know?"

He nodded and turned back to the hologram. "I know your ship well, and the delay will not be necessary. How much Jugra do you need?"

"Five durak," it said. "Little needed. Small flaw, big problem."

Jack did the maths in his head and looked to his left. "Ianto, do you think you could find me two point three grams of gold?"

He frowned and nodded. "There should be some in the SUV, if you're still using the old field kits."

"We are, can you fetch it?" Ianto just nodded and hurried back through the school. Turning back to the hologram, Jack smiled. "It will be sorted for you very soon."

"Sorry for impose," the alien told him. "Shortcut not so short."

He laughed. "Short cuts make long delays, as a famous Earth author once wrote."

"Is true. You man, he come soon?"

"He's just gone out to the car," Jack confirmed. "He should be back in a couple of minutes."

"Thank, Captain. Apologies again."

"No need to apologise, it happens. We have to be careful though, as you will understand."

"Understand," it agreed. "Nowhere safe."

"No," Jack turned as Ianto came through the doors at the end of the corridor and took the sealed test tube containing the tiny amount of gold from him. "Thank you, Ianto," he gave him a soft smile and turned back to the hologram. "I suspect our atmosphere is harmful to you?"

"Dangerous levels, yes. Low nitrogen."

Jack frowned and considered the quandary. "So we can't open the doors, or the loading hatch. I can't teleport on because this is broken and even if I could I'd die before I could get off. Captain, what is your mission, if I may ask?"

"Research. Search for minerals."

"Do you have a way to send probes out onto the surface of planets without endangering yourselves?" he asked as an idea formed. "And a probe that you can send out now?"

"Have probe. Separate room for robots, access to outside. Why?"

He grinned. "Well, if you can send one of your probes out, I can send it back in with the gold."

The hologram figure frowned and considered this, then leaned forwards on an invisible bench and started pressing invisible buttons. "Collection robot coming out, Captain. Idea brilliant."

Jack winked and fastened his coat right up to the collar, then looked around again. "Tosh, where's the exit?"

"Just around that corridor, firedoor. Here," she tossed him the lock device and he caught it one handed. "England are looking for fielders. You'll need that."

Saluting her with it, he turned away and went to the door. By the time he'd got it unlocked and open without setting the fire alarms off, a small collection probe was trundling towards him through the rain, looking quite sad and cute. He gave it a surreptitious pat as he put the test tube into its tray, then stepped back and watched it trundle back to the ship. When the hatch sealed behind it, he hunched his shoulders again and trundled back indoors himself, then shook himself off in the corridor and dripped back to his team. He checked with the Captain to make sure that they could work with he gold, then signed off and turned to the others. "Nice work, and a nice challenge. No one died for once," he grinned and shook his head again, sending drips cascading across towards all of them. "Sorry. Right, back to the Hub."

Gwen held her hand up and shook her head. "No, Jack, you go home. Enjoy your day off with Ianto, and we'll see you both in the morning, assuming that the world doesn't decide to end before then."

"You know, I'm sure I was in charge around here last time I checked," he was torn between protesting on the principle and just going with it and taking Ianto home to follow through on the promise of earlier. The fact that Gwen clearly knew it swung him more towards the principle. "Or did I miss a memo?"

"Jack," she shrugged. "Well, it's up to you. If you'd rather spend your day off in a cold, damp underground base in Cardiff doing paperwork..."

He gritted his teeth and caught Ianto's eye. Apparently Ianto was the only one who didn't already know that Jack had lost the battle, so he sighed and nodded. "I'll do my report when I get home and send it in to you. Oh, and Gwen? Don't give me orders."

"Yes, sir," she smiled sweetly and picked up her bag. "See you in the morning, boys."

Jack sighed and raised his eyes heavenwards. Tosh and Owen said goodbye to the pair of them and Jack heard Ianto catch the keys to lock up behind them. He felt Ianto's hand gentle on his shoulder and turned to face him. "Come on, then. Let's go home and make the most of it," he tried a leer, but it wilted in the face of Ianto's serious expression.

"You don't have to come back," Ianto insisted softly without meeting his eyes. "I'll go and unpack and then come and meet you at the Hub."

Jack shook his head. "I only wanted to go in to do my report. It's being told what to do by Gwen that I really object to."

Ianto chuckled and looked up again. "Stubborn ass."

"Maybe," Jack grinned. "But I do have a spectacular ass. Come on, home."