Author's note: I have entirely too much plot here. I need to send Ianto to Australia just to give him a break from tripping backwards and forwards between England and Wales!

I'm going to skip through the bits where they're apart, because otherwise this story will be longer than War and Peace and we'll all have got bored and died before I reach the end. There's still a lot to write, though ;)

Tybalt leapt from Ianto's lap and ran to the door, waking him from his absent contemplation. He stayed still and heard a key turn in the lock, then Jack's sigh as the took in the darkened living hall and living room, and Tybalt's greeting. "Hello, pest," his voice rumbled softly, "has Ianto gone to bed, then?"

"Ianto has not," he answered for Tybalt. "Ianto is right here."

Jack beamed as Ianto got up and crossed to the living room doorway where Jack stood, resting his hand on his shoulders and leaning in to greet him with a soft kiss. "So he is, and how is Ianto?"

He laughed and tugged on Jack's collar. "Tired, I'd have come down to the Hub and joined you if I thought you were going to be this late. Coat and boots off."

Already doing as Ianto had told him, Jack leaned against the wall to get one of his boots off and sighed ruefully. "Yeah, if I'd known it'd drag out for so long I'd have got you to come over earlier, then Gwen could have got off for her 'do'."

"Hmm," Ianto paused halfway to the kitchen and looked back over his shoulder. "Have you eaten?"

"What? Oh, no, not since lunch," Jack put his boots down, side by side next to Ianto's shoes, and padded after him. "You want to order in?"

"Nope," he lit the candle in the middle of the table and heard Jack stop in the doorway. Turning to face him, he waved the match out and smiled shyly. "I knew you wouldn't eat with just Owen in, so... I cooked."

"You cooked?" Jack asked, amused and warm. "You never cook."

"I know, but I wanted to," he ran a hand through his hair, slightly embarrassed, and waved the other at a chair. "Sit down, and I'll serve. It's not much but..."

One of Jack's hands clamped over his mouth, and the other squeezed his hip to turn him. "I'm sure it'll be perfect." He removed his hand and pressed his lips to Ianto's instead. "Thank you."

Smiling again, Ianto pushed Jack into a seat and kissed his forehead, then went to the oven to get the plates he'd left warming and set them on the table, followed by a dish of bacon pot, which he served onto the two plates. "I didn't know how long you'd be, and I had to do something fairly simple so..."

Jack grabbed his hand and kissed his palm, trying to hide his smile in the action. "Ianto, it's fine. It looks delicious. You didn't have to do this."

"I wanted to, though," he shook his head and sat down, retrieving his hand to pick up his knife. "Welcome home."

"I should be saying that to you," Jack laughed as he tucked in. "How was the drive over?"

"Busy – Friday traffic and all that. How was tonight's little problem?"

Jack shrugged and gestured at the food with his fork. "This is excellent, by the way. I always knew you could secretly cook. Tonight's little problem was fine, though. Although Gwen insisted on going out after it and got herself bitten."

"Typical Gwen," Ianto shook his head. "She should have been at home getting ready to get married, not running around Cardiff after a potentially lethal alien."

"And now she's out getting drunk," Jack glanced up at Ianto. "You still have issues with her?"

"I have a renewed respect for authority," he answered primly. "You let us get away with too much."

"You mean I let her get away with too much," Jack guessed, being proved right when Ianto didn't answer. "Ianto..." he was clearly racking his mind for something to say, buying time by putting his knife down and reaching out for Ianto's left hand. He gave it, having put his knife down, and Jack rubbed his thumb over the ring. "Gwen's a police officer, that's what she's been trained to do. Me, I've been trained as a soldier. We look at things differently, all of us. I know that you'd call me out if you thought I was wrong, just like Tosh and Owen would. But I'm worried about putting Gwen off and losing that outlook."

"You think she'd shut up if you told her to too often?" Ianto asked dubiously.

"No, I think it would make her worse." he chuckled and squeezed Ianto's fingers. "It's part of what I love about you: That we can argue without descending into high dudgeon with each other, without me being scared that you'll walk away. Because when you did... you came back."

He looked up at Ianto and Ianto leaned across the table to kiss his cheek. "There's nowhere I'd rather be than with you." He brushed his free fingers against Jack's cheek and settled back down. "Eat your dinner before it gets cold, soppy git."

Jack laughed and released his hand. "Alright, I'm eating."

Ianto smiled and cut off another piece of potato, attaching it to a lump of bacon. "Oh, are you doing anything Thursday night?"

"I'd not got anything planned, why?"

"Dinner and a movie?" he raised an eyebrow. "There's an old cinema reopening, and it's doing a local history show. I thought it might be nice."

"I'd like that," Jack smiled back. "Shall I let you make the reservations?"

"Yeah, I'll pick you up at seven? It starts at half past, and we can get dinner afterwards."

"Okay," Jack agreed. "Will you have to go home afterwards?"

"Yeah, I will," Ianto smiled apologetically. "And then at the weekend..."

"Australia, I know," Jack sighed. "I miss you when you're gone."

"I miss you when I'm gone, too."

They went to bed straight after dessert, a pair of chocolate bomb puddings that Ianto had bought because they only needed five minutes in the microwave, and lazy cuddles curled against each other under the duvet turned into less lazy sex that had the undesired effect of dumping the duvet onto the floor. Whilst Ianto tried to relocate the fuzzier parts of his mind (Jack had been very appreciative of his cooking skills), Jack fetched a warm, damp cloth to clean him up, then piled the duvet back onto the bed and slid underneath it, shivering slightly as he pressed up against Ianto and hugged him closer. "It's cold out there," he muttered into Ianto's hair as he snuggled even closer.

"'t is," Ianto agreed drowsily, tucking his head under Jack's chin. "Do we have to get up in the morning?"

"Gwen would be hurt if we missed her wedding," Jack pointed out. "Go to sleep, it's going to be a long day."

xxxxx

Ianto downed the last of another glass of champagne and decided that that was probably enough. He felt warm, which made a nice change from the actual temperature outside, where he'd just finished tidying away the Torchwood equipment. The day had been bright and sunny, especially for the time of year, and the sky had stayed clear as night descended, which caused the temperature to plummet. It was warm inside, though, and Jack would warm him up before they got down to the business of removing sleeping guests to their rooms – a task which would undoubtedly heat them up even more and wear them out completely.

He nearly reached for another glass as he watched Jack go to Gwen and Rhys and cut into their dance, but he stilled his hand before touching it and went to get a can of cola from behind the bar instead. Drinking half of it cleared his head a bit, although whether that was the caffeine or the cold he wasn't sure, and he set it back down on the bar before crossing to Jack and Gwen. "May I..." he said softly, mostly to Gwen. Annoyed when not even Jack heard him, he cleared his throat and tried again.

Finally they blinked and their attention turned to Ianto as they stepped apart. Jack smiled to himself as Gwen raised her hands, expecting to dance with Ianto, but Ianto shook his head at her, mostly fondly, and stepped into Jack's personal space. It was awkward at first, whilst Jack stared past him and Ianto tried to figure out why his feet wouldn't respond, but then Jack's cheek brushed against his and Ianto knew that he had all of Jack's attention again. The knowledge gave him a warmer glow than the champagne had.

When the song faded out into silence, no one on the desk to select the next one now, Jack stepped back just enough to move his hand from the small of Ianto's back to his cheek and lean in to kiss him. "You okay there?" he asked.

Ianto nodded and flicked his gaze to the desk. "I should put some more music on, or put it on shuffle or something."

Jack shook his head and kept hold of his hand to lead him off the floor, over to Gwen, Rhys, Tosh and Owen, and Ianto sank into a seat and rested his cheek on his hand.

Rhys gestured around at the remaining guests, all of them relaxed and sleepy, and commented, "You'd never think a couple of hours ago they all nearly got torn apart by some alien psycho-bitch."

Gwen laughed and nodded. "It's all been a bit too much for my mum and Brenda." The two women were asleep next to each other, leaning together.

Rhys reached for her hand and grinned at her, somewhat relieved. "I never thought I'd see that."

Looking around again, Gwen frowned and looked across the table. Sounding mostly amused, with a touch of frustration, she asked, "Okay, Jack, what's going on?"

He laughed. "Strange thing, when you mix Level Six retcon with champagne - really makes the party go with a schwing," he shrugged, "then you fall asleep."

"You retconned our families?", she sighed, and Jack fakes a gasp which was ruined by a chuckle. Gwen looked over at her mother again and nodded to herself. "It's probably for the best. I don't want my mum remembering what happened to her today."

Rhys looked at Jack, and Jack returned his gaze with an expression of 'would you argue with her?'. When Rhys rolled his eyes and smiled lopsidedly, Jack returned his attention to Gwen and slid two champagne flutes across the table towards them."Maybe the happy couple shouldn't either?" he suggested softly.

Gwen pushed them away again and shook her head firmly. "No, thank you. There'll be no secrets in this marriage."

Owen tapped the table and made to stand up. "Time for bed, I think."

Nodding his agreement, Rhys stood up and offered Gwen his hand. "We'll see you after the honeymoon. Stay out of trouble."

They made the rounds of goodbyes and Gwen paused in front of Ianto. "Thank you for the dress. It was beautiful. If you need any help or advice for yours..."

"I know who to ask," he agreed. "Take care."

They left the hall together, Rhys's arm around Gwen's waist and Gwen's head leaning towards his shoulder, but not resting on it yet. Tosh gave a heavy sigh and stood up, reaching for the champagne flutes. "Something tells me our bedtime is a long way off."

"That's right, guys," Jack agreed. "It's been a busy day, but we are not finished yet. We've
got a lot to do. We've got a major mop-up operation. And I want your best work. Remember, it's Gwen's wedding."

Ianto went to turn the lights up so that they could see what they were doing better and watched Jack moving around the room with his usual easy grace. He called out to Jack, and smiled across at him. "That's what I love about Torchwood. By day you're chasing the scum of the universe. Come midnight, you're the Wedding Fairy."

Jack laughed at that and nodded. "You make an excellent wedding fairy. Tosh, Owen, we've had to Retcon the caterers and staff as well, so you two are on general clean up..."

"What do we do with the food?" Owen asked.

"Box it and take it with us," Jack told him without hesitation. "No sense letting it go to waste, and won't freeze can do lunch tomorrow, what can will be good stock. Box it up and I'll sort it when we get back to the Hub." He turned back to Ianto, who was crossing the room to join him. "We've got to move everyone up to their rooms. Can you check the system and work out who belongs where, whilst I try and find a wheelchair or something?"

"Sure," Ianto stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. "What are we going to do with the staff? We can't get them home."

"We'll put them in empty rooms, can you do a notice in the office saying that any staff who are working after midnight can use empty rooms because of the icy conditions on the roads?"

"Got it," he turned away to do that, wishing that he hadn't had quite as much of the champagne. It wasn't like him to drink whilst on the job, but waiters had kept pressing them into his hands. By the time he got back to the hall with a printout of the room allocations list and having done the notice as Jack asked, Jack had found two wheelchairs and loaded two sleeping guests into them, and was helping Owen to fill bin liners with rubbish whilst Tosh finished boxing up the food.

He left Owen to it when he saw Ianto arrive, and rubbed absently at Ianto's back whilst he studied the list over his shoulder. "Okay, rooms seventeen and six to do this time. We'll be glad of the lift."

"We'll be glad of our beds," Ianto pointed out, reaching for one of the wheelchairs. "Do you really want to go back to the Hub tonight?"

"Yeah, I need to get the Big Gun locked away, rather than leave it out overnight," he pointed out. "But I'll get you tucked up in bed here before I go back, if you like?"

Ianto yawned and shrugged, wheeling one of the bridesmaids out of the room and towards the lift. "Depends on how I feel later, doesn't it? Don't want to miss a night with you, though."

In the end, even Jack was dead on his feet by the time they got all the guests back to their rooms. Tosh had long since retired, when she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, and only the three of them were left awake in the building. Owen eyed the two of them and held his hand out. "Keys, Jack."

Jack blinked at him and smothered a yawn. "What?"

"Give me the keys. I don't need to sleep, and you two desperately do. Doctor's orders, give me the keys and let me take the SUV back to the Hub, or you'll fall asleep at the wheel and kill someone on your way home. Capiche?"

Ianto settled the argument by leaning into Jack and yawning hugely. Jack sighed and wrapped one arm around Ianto, whilst he fished in his pockets with the other hand and eventually produced the keys to the SUV. "Thanks, Owen. We'll get a lift back with Tosh."

"Need to get our bags out of the back first, Jack," Ianto pointed out.

Jack released him and pushed him towards the door. "You've got the room key?" Ianto nodded. "Okay, you go on up, I'll be with you in ten minutes, okay?"

"Yep, okay," Ianto rubbed at his eyes and groaned, detaching himself from Jack. "G'night, Owen. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Ianto."

Ianto trailed out into the corridor and into the lift, pressing the button for his and Jack's floor. He'd picked up Jack's thing for big old houses, but this one was too commercial for his tastes, it was almost trying too hard. Sighing, he pulled off his tie and jacket, and started on the buttons of his waistcoat with clumsy fingers. Once inside their bedroom he stripped off the rest of his clothes and folded his suit carefully over one of the hangers in the wardrobe, then propped the door open with a shoe so that Jack didn't have to knock to be let in and slid into bed, relaxing back into the deep, soft mattress.

He didn't have to wait long. Jack let himself into the room and removed Ianto's shoe, then moved around as quietly as he could in the darkness. Ianto decided to stay where he was and let Jack think he was asleep for the moment. After a couple of minutes of quite movements, the bed dipped in front of him and the quilt lifted, letting Jack slide in, warm and solid as he carefully gathered Ianto into his arms. He kissed the top of Ianto's head and sighed. "I love you."

"I love you too," Ianto muttered, snuggling closer and tucking one hand over Jack's biceps. He smiled into Jack's chest and turned his head to rest his cheek against it. "You've been married before?"

"A couple of times," Jack agreed sadly, and Ianto felt a wave of pain for him. "Once by accident, twice by design."

"What happened to them?"

"They died," he stated. "Young. They all do."

"Compared to you, or..." he rubbed his cheek against Jack's chest and clung on tighter, in a silent promise that he would try not to.

"Thirty and forty. Ellen was already a widow when I met her, died before I joined Torchwood. Flora outlived all of our children, and died thinking that she'd outlived me." Jack ran his fingers through Ianto's hair. "I was too broken after Tommy..."

"He died in the war?" Ianto asked sleepily.

"Yeah. He was born after... we had three daughters, they died of Spanish flu," Jack explained heavily. "When I think of them, I'm glad I can't have more children."

"I don't want to put you through more pain, Jack," Ianto insisted, trying to prop himself up, but Jack was holding on too tight and he wasn't going to struggle against him like this. "You saw Gwen..."

"Yeah," he swallowed hard, and the sound it made in his chest was strange. "I miss them."

Ianto pushed himself up and pulled Jack around so that he could tuck his face into Ianto's neck, and just held him whilst he cried.