Author's note: I spent 15 hours writing yesterday, and it appeared to sap all my writing capabilities for today. Writing marathons are fun. For Nem, Lizzy, Ruth, Jules and Marianne. Oh, and my mum, who doesn't read it anyway.

Jack trailed his fingers down the line of Ianto's spine, digging the tip of his middle finger into the gaps between each vertebra lightly. He smiled and splayed his fingers wide where the ridges disappeared between his buttocks and pressed his lips to the shallow valley between his shoulder-blades. A knock at the door startled him and he sighed and slipped out of bed to find a pair of trousers. He ran his hand through his hair when he opened the door and found the Doctor leaning against the door-frame. "Should have guessed," he muttered. "What's up?"

"Did I wake you?" the Doctor asked, almost concerned.

He sighed and shook his head. "No. Just let me grab a shirt," he grabbed his discarded T shirt from the foot of the bed where Ianto had dropped it the night before and tugged it on roughly. He stopped for long enough to scribble a note to let Ianto know where he was, then rejoined the Doctor and shut the door carefully. "Does the world need saving?" he looked down at his feet. "Should I have brought shoes?"

"What? Oh, no. I just thought..."

"Ah," Jack realised. "Sitting room?" The Doctor nodded and followed him down to the room where he and Ianto had talked to the other Torchwood early arrivals the other night, and he threw himself into the armchair next to the fire. Jack sat down more slowly on one of the sofas and stretched his legs out. "So, any preferences about what we should avoid talking about?"

He gave him a look and dragged out the syllable in, "Jack."

Jack smiled at the ceiling. "You know, I did wonder where I got that from. I once managed to drag Ianto out to four syllables."

"Jack."

"Doctor."

"Jack."

"Are we going to play this game all night?" he asked, continuing his fixed contemplation of the ceiling rose.

The Doctor sighed and the chair springs squeaked. "How are you, Jack?"

"How are you Ianto?... Dinner, a movie... I came back for you..."

Jack shrugged. "Never better."

"That's true," the Doctor agreed. "I've never heard you so content."

"When you say things like that, I really wonder," he said eventually. "And then I usually decide that I don't want to know."

"Is this one of those times?" he asked.

"You're still here, so yes," he huffed and looked down at last, but he looked at the fireplace instead of the Doctor. He wanted to think about his friend, but he didn't know if he liked him enough to think of him as a friend. "So, I assume you sought me out for a reason."

"I did," the chair springs squeaked again and Jack tipped his head back to look at the ceiling again. "What did Jackson do to you, Jack?"

"Bit late to ask that, isn't it?" he didn't look down. "You heard me screaming?"

"More than anyone else."

Jack knew that he meant that he heard more than anyone else did, but he did want to point out that he screamed more than anyone else did. He ignored the urge, though, and just said quietly. "That's what Jackson did to me."

"The Master..."

"Usually just watched," he said. "Sometimes he'd deliver the coup de grace, when it got too much for him. When the pain I was feeling was too much for even him to bear. Do you know why he did it, Doctor?"

"Tell me."

"Because sometimes I screamed so much that I drowned out the drumming in his head," he bit out and forced back the sick feeling in his gut. "And Jackson did it because he enjoyed it, and because he thought I deserved it. He tried to kill Ianto for standing up for me."

"He's lucky he failed," the Doctor said quietly.

Jack nodded. "I would have torn him limb from limb and made sure he survived to feel it. I was hanging on by a thread. Ianto... God, he had to see me like that."

"Like what?"

"Screaming with remembered pain in the middle of the night, clinging to him like he was a ghost who would slip away from me at any moment, huddled on the kitchen floor and not responding to anything... I was broken, Doctor," he met the Doctor's gaze at last and was gratified to see the myriad of emotions there – shock, horror, anger, fear... he even liked the pity. "And I nearly broke him. He splinted me, bandaged me and ran away, because I couldn't learn to walk again if he was always there for me to lean on."

The Doctor looked right back at him. "I'm so sorry, Jack," he said at last.

"Good," Jack swallowed and pulled his feet in towards himself, forced to look away now. "I'm going back to bed," the Doctor didn't stop him as he hurried out of the room and back to his and Ianto's room, where he discovered that he'd locked himself out. He sagged against the door and drew a shuddering breath, then knocked on the door and hoped that it would be enough to wake Ianto.

He was about to give up when he heard a clear thud and a chair scraping, and then the door opened and Ianto's bleary glare melted into concern. Jack let him tug him into the room and waited whilst he shut and locked the door again, then stood passively whilst Ianto removed his own trousers first and stripped Jack carefully, hands and fingers running over his skin in the wake of his clothes. As his T shirt and trousers came off, Jack started to shake more violently and the roaring in his head grew louder. Chills swept through him, followed by an intense prickling under his skin. He wrapped his arms around himself and tucked his head down. Gentle hands led him to the bed and pushed him down onto the edge of it, then Ianto crouched in front of him, tipping his chin to make sure that he had his attention. He didn't say anything, just made sure that Jack was watching him and then reached out to take his hands and pressed them between his own until his breathing calmed and he stopped shaking. Finally, Jack pulled one of his hands from between Ianto's and reached out to stroke his cheek gently and bring their foreheads to rest together. "Thank you," he breathed, barely audible.

Ianto squeezed Jack's hand with both of his own and stood up so that he could push him back onto the bed and tuck him under the covers. He gripped Ianto's hand tightly when he made to move away, and Ianto swept a gentle hand through his hair and bent again to kiss his forehead. "I'll be back," he promised. "I'm just going to go and yell at him a bit."

"You'll just upset him," Jack told him, burying his face in the pillow.

He smiled grimly as he shimmied into his trousers and tugged on his shirt, then made sure to take his key with him before he slipped from the room. The Doctor was pretty much where Jack had left him, staring into the empty fireplace with his hands clasped between his knees. Ianto stopped next to the chair with his hands in his pockets and waited for him to look up before he spoke. "Doctor."

"Mr Jones."

"Don't ever do that to him again," he said, voice bristling with a fierce intensity. "He's already proved that he'll come at your call, it's your turn to prove something to him. Jack is not something to be poked and prodded and dissected; he's a human being, who does his best and has suffered more than anyone should ever have to bear."

"Look after him, Ianto," he said quietly. "Because I can't."

"I'm going to," he softened and sagged. "If we don't show up today, tell them that I'm not well and Jack is staying with me. We've both indicated our approval to the measures, and General Adooya can represent Britain for us," he turned away without waiting for an answer and rushed back to Jack.

He was calmer than Ianto had expected, sitting up in bed with Ianto's pillow on his lap and his hands resting, folded, on top of it. Ianto smiled softly and stripped off his shirt and trousers again, then slipped under the quilt with him and let Jack curl into him, tucking his head under Ianto's chin. He ran his hand down Jack's back until it reached the edge of the quilt, then pulled it up and wrapped his arm over it so that it covered Jack's shoulders. Jack's fingers flexed on his chest, then he reached across and tugged the quilt up onto Ianto's shoulder on the other side. They stayed like that, tangled together with the press of soft, warm skin and gentle breathing rooting them together. Eventually Jack's hand slipped down from Ianto's shoulder to flatten on his stomach and he sighed. "I'm sorry," he whispered against Ianto's chest. "I thought I'd got past this. When... yesterday, I didn't..."

Ianto squeezed his arm and followed it down under the quilt to find his hand so that he could lace their fingers together. "It's okay," he whispered into his hair. It wasn't, Jack shouldn't have had to go through that again, but it wasn't his fault. "What do you need?"

"Just... just hold me," he sighed out. "I just need to know you're here," he sat up and put Ianto's pillow back in the space behind him, then slid down and tugged Ianto with him, guiding Ianto's head down to rest on his chest and resting his hand on the back of Ianto's head. "You're warm," he said at last. "You make an excellent duvet."

"You make an excellent mattress," Ianto told him, wrapping his arm tightly across Jack's chest. "Are you okay?"

Jack sighed and his chest heaved under Ianto's cheek. "Not yet, but I will be."

He nodded and yawned. "Sleep, Jack. I'm here."

To Ianto's surprise, Jack didn't wake him again during the night. He looked pale and tense when Ianto woke up, but he smiled back and wrapped his hand around Ianto's shoulder when he knelt over him for a chaste kiss. Ianto settled back on his heels and let the duvet pool around his hips, trailing his fingers down Jack's chest in feather-light swirls. "How are you feeling this morning?"

Jack shrugged and watched the progress of Ianto's fingers. "I've had better nights' sleep. Had worse too, though."

Ianto smiled and leaned forwards again to kiss him once more, then pushed himself out of bed with a groan. "I need a shower," he sighed. "I'll make it quick, though."

"Don't worry about me," Jack rolled over onto his front and rubbed his cheek against the pillow. "I'm fine."

He nodded and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Jack to sag into the bed and close his eyes. Rain pattered against the windows and the wind rattled the guttering above them, the shower ran in the room next to theirs and then Ianto started the one in their bathroom. Someone walked past on the corridor outside doing the morning wake-up call for those who'd requested it and delivering the morning newspapers to the Torchwood sitting room. When he shifted, the mattress and the bed creaked – one in metal springs and one in ancient wood. A daring bird sang outside and Jack smiled into the pillow and tucked his arm underneath it. The shower stopped running and Ianto's bare feet slapped on the tiles. Next came one of the taps on the sink – cold, as it wasn't accompanied by the hum of the heating system – a change in the sound as Ianto stuck his toothbrush underneath it, and then the sound of him brushing his teeth. Jack could almost hear him rubbing his hair dry with the other hand, or maybe he was imagining it. He slid out of bed and padded into the bathroom, where he took the towel off Ianto and started rubbing his hair dry for him. Ianto smiled around the toothbrush and changed hands to brush the other side, reaching back with the first hand and wrapping it around Jack's hip. Once Ianto's hair was dryer, Jack draped the towel over the rail and turned the shower back on for his own shower.

Before long, he flopped next to Ianto on the bed again, both still naked, and studied him thoughtfully. Ianto dropped his head to the side and met Jack's gaze, a tiny frown forming between his eyebrows. Jack reached up and smoothed it out with his thumb, but it reappeared. "You shouldn't frown so much," he chastised softly. "Nothing's that important."

"You are," Ianto told him.

Jack propped himself up on his elbow and smoothed out the frown again. Ianto stayed flat on his back, looking up at Jack. Jack bent his head and kissed the line and it vanished beneath his lips as Ianto's eyes closed, so Jack kissed his eyelids and felt soft lashes flutter against the corner of his lips. He trailed down and kissed the tip of his nose, then brushed the lightest of kisses against his lips. Ianto's eyes opened, but the frown didn't return. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," Jack smiled down at him. "We should do this more often."

"Which bit?"

"Slow," he brushed their lips together again. "And going nowhere."

"I like nowhere," Ianto brushed his nose against Jack's. "It's calm."

There was a knock at the door and booted footsteps rang out down the corridor away from them, towards the main part of the house. Jack looked up at the clock and sighed. "Breakfast time," he admitted and leaned in to kiss Ianto once more.

Ianto trailed his fingers down Jack's neck until his hands could splay flat on his chest to push him back so that he could sit up. He sighed and slipped out of bed to get dressed, and Jack watched him go before swinging off the bed himself. It didn't take them long to get ready; Ianto abandoned his jacket on the bed and went with just a waistcoat instead, whilst Jack stuck with his usual shirt and braces look. Phone in one pocket, key in the other, Ianto put his hand on the handle and looked back at Jack. "Got everything?"

"Yeah," he covered Ianto's hand on the door handle with his own and pulled the door open. "We should find the cat first. And the Doctor."

Ianto hummed his unconvinced-sounding agreement and followed Jack down to the sitting room where they had left the Doctor during the night. He was still there – a fact which Ianto thought was probably extremely fortunate for everyone involved if he was capable of wandering around the place on his own – with a book open on one knee and an extremely smug looking Tybalt draped upside down across the other having his tummy tickled. The Doctor looked up and them and gave them an assessing look over the top of his glasses, whilst Jack squirmed and Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Good morning," he said at last.

Tybalt rolled over and jumped down from the chair to go to Ianto, who bent to pick him up. "Morning, Doctor," Jack smiled as he sat down on the sofa. "Have you been here all night?"

"Yeah," he shut the book and pulled his glasses off. "I was detained by Officer Topcat."

Ianto sat down next to Jack and settled Tybalt on the sofa next to him whilst Jack took his other hand and twined their fingers together. "You've got your characters mixed up, Doctor – it was Officer Dibble."

He looked startled. "Really? Oh, that's no fun. So..." he changed track in an instant. "What's your position on the Shadow Proclamation?"

"In favour," Jack told him. "Should we go for breakfast?"

"Oh, yes, of course," they stood and made their way down the corridor with Tybalt at their heels. "You need to be careful not to hand them too much control..."

"Of course," Ianto agreed. "The Proclamation is too powerful for us to surrender full legal control to them, and their methods contravene the Declaration of Human Rights – it would be illegal to subject a human to the Proclamation's courts."

"And what about other resident aliens?"

He shrugged. "They have no legal defence as yet, because they don't officially exist. We'll have to reclassify the rights as applying to sentient beings before they can be extended, and then classify each species and eventually each being as an individual."

Jack grinned at him proudly. "And that is why I hired you."

"Good call," the Doctor gave him a sidelong look which Ianto ignored. "I take it you'll be trying to swing opinions over breakfast?"

"Gauge opinions," Ianto corrected him. "It's organisation like Torchwood that have the real influence, because UNIT have already been told what to say. Doesn't mean they'll believe it, but UNIT is officially in support of the action."

"UNIT are more reluctant to hand over that sort of control than any of the small organisations, because they actually have it to hand over," Jack added with a wry smile. "Torchwood has the power to deal with a fugitive Plazmavore, even an attempt by one of the criminal families to set up on our turf, but we could use a greater deterrent, especially against races like the Sontarans."

"The Shadow Proclamation wouldn't stop the Sontarans," the Doctor sniffed. "We just have to hope that they avoid Earth by accident."

Jack shrugged. "They were an example, we need the legal clout to be able to fight back. And we can adopt the proclamation on the Rights of Beings as well whilst we're doing it, which will eventually be melded with the declaration of Human Rights."

They reached the bottom of the grand staircase, where Delilah was waiting and looking unamused by the Doctor's nighttime wanderings. He bit his lip and tried to look contrite. "Good morning, Del."

She sighed heavily and bent to stroke Tybalt. "Any advice for keeping him in order, Captain?"

"Just keep up," he smirked at her huff and patted her shoulder. "How are you at running?"

She snorted and pointed at the dining room doorway, then ushered the Doctor away to his seat at the top table. Jack laughed and let Ianto guide him to their own places through the already crowded dining hall. There was still time before the waiters and waitresses reached their corner of the hall, so they settled down comfortably with glasses of fresh fruit juice from the stoneware jugs in the middle of the table. Laura held the plate of pastries out towards them, out of her husband's reach, and she and Ianto both laughed at the way Jack's face lit up. Ianto shook his head and took a sip of his juice. "No, thanks, Laura," Jack took a chocolate muffin and he rolled his eyes. "Oh, so that's why I never get to sleep at night."

Jack laughed and nodded to Laura. "Thanks. How are you finding the conference so far?"

"Fairly dull," she sighed, setting the plate down out of Mark's reach again and helping herself to a handful of chocolate raisins. "It only really gets interesting today."

Mark used a banana to hook a croissant and waved the banana at Jack. "Proclamation, for or against?"

"For," he said with a smile. "You?"

"Oh, for," he agreed. "What about the Prime Minister?"

"He'll do what I tell him," Ianto said with a straight face whilst he peeled an orange. "He's for, though."

Li looked over from Mark's other side and waved a teaspoon. "I am all in favour," she said. "My Government won't sign, though."

"No," Jack agreed, "I didn't think they would. What about the USA?"

'Liberty Towers, Hart', was sitting next to Laura. She looked up at the question and nodded down the table. "The Men in Black would be able to tell you better, but I think it's likely after the assassination of the president this Spring. Cathy, by the way."

Jack reached across and shook her hand. "Good to meet you, Cathy. Are you still having problems with inter-agency relations, then?"

She snorted and took her hand back. They all leaned back so that the food could be served, but she shrugged and looked at him over the table. "We've had problems with it for the last fifty years, why break with tradition?"

Jack sighed heavily and shook his head. "As a race, we are only ever united by conflict. I hate knowing that something will come to force inter-agency communications, when implementing better strategies before could have saved lives."

Cathy sliced into a sausage and shrugged. "We've made overtures – they don't want to know. They're not even here, doesn't that tell you something?"

"It does," he admitted. "I've dealt with them in the past – don't envy you sharing territory with them. It's bad enough with UNIT and the other Torchwood branches, and with Torchwood we're the same organisation."

"Surely you don't have much trouble getting information out of London?" Li asked lightly.

"Oh we're easy in London," Ianto interjected. "But can you imagine trying to get information out of Archie? None of us can understand a word he says."

"Does anyone else work there?" she asked, "or is it just him?"

"Just him, has been for nearly ten years," Jack confirmed. "We've tried to encourage him to get new staff, but he won't take it."

"So you're going to wait for him to retire and send someone up there?"

Jack and Ianto looked at each other and shrugged. "We've not thought that far, really. It's on the list, but we've already got a lot of plates spinning, and it's not a high priority with UNIT's base up there as well."

Mark swallowed a mouthful of fried mushrooms. "Where is the ocker old bogan?"

Jack sighed. "I have no idea what you just said, but I'd guess he's still in bed."

"He asked where the cantankerous old bastard is," Laura laughed. "So you're probably right."

They slipped back into sounding out other representatives around the table, getting a feel for the sways of opinion regarding the Shadow Proclamation. Officially, the world leaders would agree and sign, or not, on Saturday – honestly, most of them were guided by the organisations they'd sent here to represent them. Ianto would call Gordon and tell him as soon as he knew which way opinions seemed to be swinging, but it would be put to a secret ballot and counted up overnight, just like the decision on re-establishing Torchwood in London would. He shook his head fiercely and turned back to his food, just wanting the day to be over.

Jack knocked on the door before he pushed it open and put the squirming cat down on the floor. Ianto was sitting by the window on a blanket he'd taken from the bedroom, still talking to Gordon on his mobile. He gave Jack a smile and invited him in with a tilt of his head before turning his attention back to the pouring rain and his conversation. "Yeah, we're enjoying it. It's nice to spend time together, at least. He's just got up here, I told you he wouldn't be long."

After straightening the blanket, Jack sat down next to Ianto and wrapped his arm around his waist, then leaned towards the phone. "Good evening, Prime Minister."

Ianto covered the mouthpiece with his hand and turned his head to kiss Jack, then told him, "Gordon says 'hello'. Sorry, I won't be long."

He waved it away and leaned his chin on Ianto's shoulder to watch the rain. Ianto waited in silence after he hung up, then dropped his phone onto the floorboards with a thunk and turned his head to find Jack's lips again. "All yours, Captain," he smirked.

Jack laughed and kissed him again, then pushed him back onto the blanket. "Good thinking, I like it. The blanket I mean."

"I try my best, sir," Ianto's eyes sparkled up at him and he reached for Jack.

"Ianto, I'm not going to molest you whilst Tybalt's in the room," he looked sternly down at him, trailing a finger down his tie. "We'll get cat hairs in really, really not good places."

Ianto laughed and sat up again. "The bed's probably covered in them anyway."

Jack pretended to give this serious thought. "We'll just have to have shower sex then."

"Later," Ianto promised, lying back down and pulling Jack with him. From here, with his head on Ianto's chest, they could both look out at the rain and the far away lights of London. It was quiet and peaceful, and Ianto was warm beneath him, and he could just hear the noise of his heart and his breathing, and the cotton of his shirt was so soft. His hand came to rest in Jack's hair and flexed gently, and he let out a great sigh. "We should do something like this for a honeymoon."

"A stately home in the country?"

"No, somewhere private and secret," he clarified. "Self catering, so it'd be just us."

"I like the sound of that," Jack agreed.

"Somewhere warm..."

"Clothing optional?"

Ianto shoved at his head but quickly resumed stroking his fingers through his hair. "Some of the time, certainly. I want to go somewhere they can't reach us, can't call on us to save the world."

"What if the world's ending and they need us?"

"Fuck them," he muttered, dropping his head back onto the floor. "You're not dying when we're supposed to be on honeymoon – that's the only reason they'd call on us specifically, to ask you to die for them."

Jack groped for Ianto's other hand and raised his head to look at him once he'd found it. "I'm the only person who can give that, Ianto. I can walk in, give my life for this planet, and come home to you. I will, you know I will."

He nodded and closed his eyes. "You don't deserve that, Jack. You give too much to be the sacrificial lamb as well."

The silence dragged out whilst Jack waited for Ianto to say something, unable to think of anything himself. Eventually he reached up and rested his palm flat on Ianto's chest, feeling the thud of his heart whilst he waited for him to look up. "When this stops," he said tightly when Ianto opened his eyes, "that will be it. You'll be gone. Anyone else in this building, anyone else in the universe, they have only one chance. I can give what they can't, and if people need me to, I always will."

Ianto nodded and sat up, then wrapped his arms around Jack's waist and pressed their foreheads together. "I wish I could promise the same, that I'll always come home to you. The worst thing I could do to you is leave you behind, and I've done it before, and have no choice about doing it again," Jack kissed him to shut him up and he returned it softly, keeping the pace slow. When their lips parted again, he pulled back and rested his temple against Jack's forehead instead. "Bed?"

"Bed," Jack agreed, barely audible. "I don't want this week to end."

"I could do without the work bit," Ianto chuckled and turned back to kiss him. "Very long honeymoon, with no public speaking to be done."

"Promise?"

"I promise," he grinned and kissed him again.