Author's Note: I disappeared. Now I have returned. Hopefully this will be the start of a writing spree, not a stand-alone spritz. This is for Jen, who is made of awesome, and for my brother, who is not.

Ianto shook his head and thought he felt his brain rattle. The flight back from Australia had been long but lovely, with plug sockets and wifi giving him access to the internet and Jack, and a good list of movies and TV shows that he'd not seen but wanted to. The one thing it hadn't allowed was sleep, despite the comfort of first class. Something had kept sleep at arm's length; even when he'd thought he was so exhausted that he couldn't keep his eyes open, his mind had kept going. He met Ally's eyes and smiled as well as he could, shifting the strap of his bag higher up his shoulder. "They let you in, then?"

"Eventually." She rummaged through her handbag and slipped her passport back into one of the pockets. "Don't think I'll be needing that again for a while. Have you got my... got it."

"No, I haven't." He steered her through to baggage collection and leaned against a pillar to watch the conveyor going around, smothering a yawn. "I don't think I'm going to be going back to Cardiff today."

"Not until you've had some sleep," she agreed. "Did you get any on the flight?"

He shook his head again and the movement set a headache going at the back of his head. "I've done longer days," he assured her, then sought a distraction. "Isn't that your bag?"

"No, mine's..." She frowned. "Nope, you were right. Go fetch a trolley."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ally's case was larger than Ianto's, and tucked at the back of the trolley underneath the basket with Ianto's perched in front of it and their suit bags draped over them and hanging off the basket. He insisted on pushing it, steering them through the crowds and the 'nothing to declare' area, which was deserted, then out into the arrivals hall. He made for the gap in the rail at their end, having to pause for a large family to move out of his way so that he didn't run their small children over. When he raised his eyes heavenwards, looking for patience that the lack of sleep had stolen, and felt his heart leap. "Ally, can you take the trolley?"

"What?" she looked up from her phone and got it. "Oh, sure."

Without the trolley it was easier to weave his way through the crowds to where Jack was waiting, looking windswept and interesting and more than a little wet. It didn't matter to Ianto, not with his own exhaustion and the look in Jack's eyes that said he wasn't quite himself either. He cupped Jack's cheek, cold and wet from the rain, and brushed their lips together, then slid his hand around to the back of Jack's neck and wrapped the other around his waist, settling against him with a sigh of relief. They leaned against each other for a moment, holding on tightly, but then Ianto had to pull back and cover his mouth against another jaw-cracking yawn. "Sorry," he muttered, scrubbing at his face with one hand whilst the other remained resting on Jack's hip. "Long flight."

"It was a bit." Jack rested his hands on Ianto's shoulders and smiled at him. "Back to your flat, then?"

Ianto leaned into Jack's hands. "Yep, if you don't have to get back to Cardiff."

"I don't." Jack looked like he was about to say something else, but he pasted on a brittle smile instead and turned to Ally. "Miss Craig, long time no see."

"And yet not long enough," she teased. "How... did you miss him?"

Jack smiled at her aborted sentence and slipped his arm around Ianto's waist. "Almost as much as Tybalt did, I think. Can we offer you a lift home?"

She glanced between them and bit her lip, but practicality won out. "Thanks, Jack, that would be great, if you've got space."

"Sure we've got space." He shifted a little and tightened his grip on Ianto's waist. "I got a new car specially."

Ianto's eyebrows crept up and he leaned against Jack, bumping their hips together once, but he said nothing apart from, "Well you'd better take us so you can show it off then."

Jack tried to insist on taking the trolley, but Ally avoided the argument by walking off with it, leaving Jack and Ianto to trail in her wake with Jack calling out directions. Ianto slid his fingers between Jack's and squeezed gently. "Thank you for being here," he said, watching Ally reach the entrance to the valet parking area. "I missed you."

"Everyone needs something pretty to come home to," Jack told him lightly. "She'll go without us if we don't..."

"Yeah, I know."

Jack tightened his grip around Ianto's hand and approached the desk. "Hi, Harkness."

He slid the receipt across the desk and the clerk smiled at him with the expression of someone who was paying attention to their job for the first time all day. "Thank you, sir. Your car is being brought now. If you could sign here..."

Ianto released Jack's hand and stepped back to let him sign, running his hand down his back from shoulder-blades to waist instead. The clerk glared at him over Jack's head until she remembered herself, just in time to collect the form from Jack. "Thank you, sir. If you'd like to take a seat whilst you wait."

Ally was already sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs in the waiting area. They faced the wall and a painting of Wastwater, because it was more appealing than the undercover car park that abutted one side of the office, or the arrivals area on the opposite side. Being Ally, she had her feet up on the edge of Ianto's case and her shoes in her hand, and was contemplating their toes when Ianto dropped onto the sofa next to her chair and Jack settled next to him. "Did they get run over?"

"What?" She glanced up at him and failed to hide a smile at the sight of them, but the frown returned when she looked back to her shoes. "No, but I've had them for a while."

"You mean you didn't get a chance to replace them whilst you were in Melbourne?" Jack asked. "Ianto really does work you too hard."

Ianto rubbed his head against Jack's, reminding himself of Tybalt, and smiled when Jack turned to kiss his temple. "I didn't plan the itinerary for this one," he pointed out. "Normally I leave plenty of time for shopping."

"He does, actually. He's very good at indulging me." She dropped her shoes onto the floor with a clatter and swung her legs down so that she could slip her feet into them. "I am going to get home and have a long, hot bath and a long, cold drink."

The automatic doors opened and Jack straightened up, smiling beyond them at the valet who'd come to collect them. "There she is."

Ianto turned to follow Jack's gaze and smiled despite himself. "Ally, you might be a bit squashed back there."

She turned a raised eyebrow on him, grinning despite her attempt at a disparaging glare. "Really, Ianto, you think I care?"

He laughed and pushed himself out of his seat, trying to figure out the logistics of getting Ally's long legs into the back of an Aston Martin DB9 when coupled with her usual inelegance. "Oh well, at least you're not wearing a skirt."

Jack dropped him off at home, so that Ally could sit in the front for the ten minute drive to her flat and stretch her legs out. The idea of a hot bath was appealing, but it seemed to be Jack who was in need of the comfort tonight. His tendency, in times of emotional upheaval, was to spend an awful lot of money on something that, if he looked after it well, would last longer than human relationships. Almost every property he owned – and there were several of them – had been bought in the ruins of a relationship breakup that had left Jack homeless, and his beloved E-Type Jaguar was bought when the then-leader of Torchwood Cardiff had made him persona non grata at the Hub and he'd found himself at a loose end. If Jack had bought a new luxury car, probably spending a year's wages on it, something had upset him badly.

Or he'd been watching too much Top Gear again.

Ianto set a pan of spiral pasta on to boil, then found the bottle of Australian Red in his case and set it on the table with the corkscrew. Whilst the pasta finished boiling, he tipped a tin of tomatoes and a mixture of spices into a frying pan and fetched a pair of bowls. By the time Jack had closed and locked the flat door, Ianto had a very simple dinner on the table and was there to help him with his coat in the hall. "You've not even got changed," Jack chided. "You should have let me cook."

"I got home first," Ianto pointed out. "Besides, even I can't kill us with tinned tomatoes and quick cook pasta."

Jack framed his face in large, gentle hands and smiled. "Mr Jones, I think you underestimate your abilities."

Ianto huffed and took Jack's hands to lead him into the open plan kitchen-dining room, then pushed him into a chair. "Eat before it goes cold," he instructed, dropping into the other chair. "And then we'll open the wine and you can tell me what's wrong."

They ate in a worried and thoughtful silence, with eyes downcast apart from occasional glances at each other. Ianto could still feel the tiredness through to his bones, but having something to worry about, especially if it was Jack, was enough to push the tiredness back for just a little longer.

Jack finished first and reached for the bottle top open it, pouring out two glasses whilst Ianto stacked their plates on the side to deal with later. Jack didn't look at him as he passed one glass across an started talking. "They say that a parent's love for their child is unconditional. No one ever talks about it going both ways."

Ianto reached across silently and held Jack's free hand with his own, running his thumb over the back of his knuckles in silent support.

Jack sighed and squeezed his fingers. "It was quiet at work today, so Tosh said I should come across and pick you up. I got to London this morning and called in on Alice. We had an argument... she's not going to come to the wedding or for Christmas."

He laced his fingers thought Jack's and met his gaze steadily when Jack raised his eyes, hoping to hide his seething anger at Jack's daughter. He knew that she had an issue with their relationship, but she'd already broken Jack's heart too often, and he'd never been anything but supportive to her. "What's her objection?"

"She doesn't want a step-father," Jack smiled, but his jaw was tight and his eyes, which dropped to their joined hands again, shone with the beginnings of tears. "Or... not one married to her father, at least."

Ianto frowned. "She's not..."

"Yeah, she is." Jack took s sip of the wine and when he started again his voice was steadier. "We had coffee and biscuits, her and me and Steven, and Steven asked me if he was ever going to get cousins, and I told him that you and I hadn't even started thinking about that yet. And she told him to go and fetch a bottle of juice and told me that I wasn't allowed to tell Steven that I'm gay, because she doesn't want me to corrupt him."

"Jack..." Ianto took a deep breath. "It's not your fault. If she can't see what's in front of her, can't understand that the world isn't the way she thinks it is, that's her narrow-sighted blindness at fault."

Jack blinked at him. "But if I'd been there more... I don't know, maybe she would have turned out differently."

"Maybe," Ianto conceded. "And maybe she would have grown up with her parents fighting all the time. You can't know, Jack, and we can't change the past. All we can do is deal with the present."

"When did you get so sensible?" Jack asked, smiling weakly.

Ianto squeezed his hand and offered a smile in return. "Did Steven say anything?"

Jack shook his head. "He didn't seem to mind... I'm just scared that she'll tell him that I went away and abandoned them, like Lucia told her, and he'll hate me as well."

"She doesn't hate you. She just doesn't know what to do with you. And I won't let Steven miss out on you like that," Ianto said, determined to make him promise come true. "We'll make sure that you get to every school play and concert. You can be his secret."

After a moment of just watching him, Jack leaned forwards and kissed Ianto softly. "I don't know what I did to deserve you," he said, "and I don't know what Alice did to miss out. But I love you a lot."

Ianto let his eyes flutter shut, leaning into the kiss and letting Jack guide it slowly and gently. It took a moment after Jack pulled back for him to open his eyes, and Jack's expression made his stomach do a strange leap. "Jack..."

"You should get some sleep," Jack stopped him, brushing the pad of his thumb across Ianto's lower lip. "Do you want to shower first?"

Ianto thought about it, slowly as the the syrup flowed into his mind again, and shook his head. "Later. Will you stay?"

Jack got to his feet and brushed his fingers against Ianto's cheek. "I'll always stay."