12.04.2009
Ianto rolled over and stretched out, ignoring the grumbles from Jack beside him as his elbow nudged against his shoulder. "Sorry," he muttered, even though his grin probably ruined the effect. "Not used to sharing a bed these days."

"Well, I wasn't complaining last night. Or yesterday afternoon." Jack pushed Ianto back over and rolled on top of him, bracing his forearms on either side of Ianto's head and leaning down to kiss him. "But if you think you need the practice..."

He pushed up for another kiss and then nudged Jack back onto the bed. "My sister will be here in a couple of hours, and we have a lot to do before then."

Jack's arms closer around his waist and pulled him back down. "Come on. You know I'm top of your to-do list."

"Oh, you are, are you?" He let himself be pulled closer and ran his hands down Jack's arms. "I thought that was making the coffee. First thing I do every morning, after going to the toilet, is make the coffee. Who doesn't?"

"Well, I feed your damn cat, and then make the coffee." Their legs tangled together and they settled back down. "But normally..."

The phone rang.

Jack rested his head against Ianto's shoulder for two rings, and when it didn't go away he groaned and let Ianto reach across for it. "If it's work, they can ring Gwen. I don't care."

"It's my sister." He pressed a finger to Jack's lips and answered on the final ring. "Rhiannon, hi."

"Hi, Ianto. I didn't disturb anything, did I?"

"Yes, so make it quick."

"Okay!" She gave a strangled laugh. "I just wanted to let you know that I've been up all night with Micah, she's been throwing up poor love, so we're not going to be able to come over for lunch. I'll get Johnny and David to pop round with those DVDs and your card and stuff, alright?"

Ianto gave Jack a thumbs up. "Oh no, give her my love will you? No need to worry about the DVDs, either. I'll still be here tomorrow, after all."

"Alright then, pet. I'll let you two spend the day in bed. Give Jack my love. And remind him he's looking after Micah and David on Thursday, too."

"He's what?" He narrowed his eyes at Jack, who smiled back at him innocently. "Alright, I'll remind him. Love you." His phone bounced on the bed and he sat back, just out of reach, with his arms folded. "You're babysiting David and Micah?"

"Yeah, on Thursday. Johnny can't get the day off work and Rhiannon has to do her Avon round, go to Weightwatchers, all her usual errands." He shrugged. "It seemed like a decent plan. I'm taking them up to Castell Coch for the day, to have a go at archery and watch the jousting. I'm quite excited, actually."

Ianto couldn't maintain a scowl for long against the blossoming warmth in his chest, and he felt a grin split his face from ear to ear. "I love you. And I'm so glad you're getting so involved with my family, and I'm glad they like you so much."

"And I'm glad you're happy with that." Jack reached out for Ianto's hand and laced their fingers together again. "I wish you could meet more of my family. Well, any of my family. I feel like all I have left is burned bridges."

"It's not your fault. And now you have a chance to start again." He shifted closer to him. "And you're not alone. Soon we might be able to admit the life you've lived, but until then you have all of us. You even have royalty on your side of the wedding list, which is more than I can say. You have a family, even if it's not a conventional one."

"I know. I know, and it means so much to me." He cupped Ianto's cheek. "You mean so much to me."

Ianto smiled as he turned to press a kiss to Jack's palm, and then pulled him in for a proper one.

They emerged from the bedroom a while later, damp from a shared shower and aching happily in places they hadn't had a chance to exercise in far too long. Jack made straight for the cat food, where Tybalt was being unsubtle about his hunger and displeasure, and Ianto made for the coffee machine and toaster. They bumped into each other in the small space, but took the opportunities to kiss quickly whenever they did. As he set the mugs down on the breakfast bar, Ianto dodged out of Jack's way again. "What's this place like for you?" he asked. "I mean, is it the sort of place you would have bought normally?"

Jack paused in reaching for his mug. "This apartment? I guess not, really. The last couple of houses I had were bigger, so I could have the ground floor as the space where I had to deal with other people, and upstairs was just me and, well, whoever I was with at the time."

"Well..." Ianto hugged his mug to his chest. "How would you feel about moving, then?"

"You got anywhere in mind?"

He shook his head. "I thought we could look together, once I'm living back here. Rather than settle on somewhere I bought in a hurry and then you bought in a hurry from me. Take the time to find the right place, you know?"

"That... sounds great." Jack chuckled and came to rest his hand on Ianto's hip. "And maybe once we have the new Hub sorted. I don't fancy moving home and office at the same time."

Ianto chuckled. "That is a fair point. How is that going, though? Boss hat firmly off..."

"Genuinely smoothly. We're letting the contractors do their thing, and we're a couple of months off starting to move the archives to the new site. It's looking really good, and will make a big difference." He shook his head. "Being above ground. Having windows in the bedrooms..."

"Not being perpetually damp and cold and surrounded by damp."

Jack chuckled. "Oh yeah. Although I'll miss my bunker. It's... I've put down roots in there."

"It's not good for you, though, and you know it." He reached out to touch Jack's cheek. "You've spent too much of your life hiding. Rooftops and the invisible lift, not letting anyone see you so they don't figure you out. I promise, it won't be much longer."

"I don't know what I did to deserve you."

He pretended to think about it. "Well, you know, you did save the world a couple of times." His thumb brushed across Jack's cheek. "Little things like that."

Jack chuckled and pulled away so that he could fetch the toast and stack the butter and jam until Ianto stepped in to rescue them both from falling to the floor. They settled down at the table with the balcony doors open wide to let in the fresh sea air and the sounds of tourists starting to arrive in the Bay. As long as they kept the radio and TV off and the phone didn't ring it was possible, for a while, to pretend that their lives were safe and normal and boring. Jack caught Ianto watching him again and grinned. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"We have a day off. A real day off, with no plans and no one expecting us anywhere." He had a sudden happy realisation. "We can finalise the guest list for the wedding and decide on the catering!"

"We could do that." Jack leaned over and kissed him. "I think I have a better idea, though..."

# # #

Jack closed the balcony doors and pulled the curtains closed, shutting out the night and the lights of the Bay, whilst Ianto flipped back a couple of pages to check the list. "You've got Thatcher down on your list. I know you feel you ought to but remember that my family are Welsh miners. I don't want to be responsible for her death."

"Well, if you're going to invite Gordon..."

"He's different. I work with him, and you barely even met her. You're not inviting Blair, after all." He crossed her off very firmly. "This is getting the list down to just the people we want there, remember? No one who isn't going to party like it's 1983."

Jack glared at him. "You're enjoying this far too much."

"Of course I am. And so are you. Who's Henrietta?"

"Old UNIT contact, we worked together during the 90s when the Doctor went missing. She's nice, you'll like her." His phone started ringing and wouldn't stop, no matter how much they both tried to ignore it, so he eventually dug it out of his pocket and crossed the fingers of his free hand as he answered it. "Captain Jack Harkness speaking... Malcolm? I... yes, of course I remember you. The UNIT Christmas dinner in 2000, it was a good night. No I haven't seen the news. A London bus..."

He looked over at Ianto and gestured at the TV. They'd managed to avoid turning it on all day, and had thought, foolishly, that the quiet of their phones meant that there was nothing interesting on the news. It was set on the 24 hour news channel when he switched it on, and although the story was about some football match the rolling banner at the bottom was much more interesting. He hit mute so Jack could continue his conversation and set aside the wedding notes to watch. A London bus had disappeared completely, which was unusual enough, but it was the way a charred skeleton had stepped back through the wormhole that had triggered the call to UNIT.

"Yeah, she sounds like our sort of girl alright." Jack settled back on the sofa and rested his free hand on Ianto's thigh, squeezing gently. "And her bus, yes. Is he still around?" He sighed as Malcolm started again and Ianto chuckled softly. "Oh well, I'll give him a call later. Thanks for the tip-off. I'll get Tosh to arrange that visit for you as soon as I'm back in the office. Take care."

Ianto had to laugh at the look on his face. "One of your fan club, or Tosh's?"

"The Doctor's actually." He scrubbed a hand over his face and chuckled. "Apparently the Doctor was in town today..."

"I would never have guessed."

Jack ignored him and continued, "visiting the Queen, but he ended up investigating a wormhole. The bus he was on got sucked through the wormhole onto a dead planet, and then the aliens that destroyed the planet nearly got through the wormhole to Earth to destroy us too, but that's not the interesting bit."

"I think I need a drink for this," Ianto laughed. "I'm glad it was only nearly. It would be dreadfully inconvenient if the world ended just after we sorted the guest list."

"There's still time for that. But the point is... On this bus, along with the Doctor, was the Black Cat."

Ianto sat up at that. "The thief? The one who did the Musee d'Orsee?"

"The one you've wanted to recruit for about two years." He smirked at Ianto's affronted glare. "The one and only."

He narrowed his eyes. "You've got a name, haven't you?"

Jack laughed. "I'll do you one better. UNIT just took her in for questioning, and I have a favour or two I can call in for you." He lifted his phone again. "Shall I make the call?"

# # #

UNIT's main detention centre was on Dartmoor, surrounded by a live firing range and several miles of some of the most bleak and desolate moorland that Britain had to offer. Spring had arrived to soften the horizon with the purple hues of heather, but nothing could detract from the imposing bulk of yet another granite tor looming over the landscape. Ianto followed the dusty track to the inner fence and rolled the window down to hand his pass to the surly guard and was waved through without even a word. He'd never thought he'd miss the obsequious salutes of the Tower, but it turned out he did.

Inside, the compound was rather more UNIT. Dust and stone gave way to a flawless concrete surface swept clear of even the merest hint of gravel and where no weed or blade of grass would dare even think of growing. Two privates came running across to meet him and were at sharp attention before he got out of the car. "Director Jones, sir," the bolder of the two said, snapping off a salute. "Commander Lethy has everything ready for you."

"Excellent." He got his bag off the passenger seat and gestured for them to lead the way. "How has Lady de Souza taken to her situation?"

"Impolitely, sir. She's in the first offices."

The squat grey buildings couldn't have screamed 'cold war bunker' any louder if it were painted on them in lime green. A short flight of steps led down to the heavy steel door with its incongruously up-to-date security panels, and Ianto had to be swiped in by both of his attendants before a guard behind a bulletproof glass panel could scrutinise his Torchwood ID and then, eventually, give him yet another UNIT security pass which, he was told, would get him into the toilets. Nowhere else.

"Director Jones, it's an honour to meet you at last." Commander Lethy was a short, squat woman with a handshake like a vice and a brusque manner to go with it. Her smile was warmer than her voice, though, and she gestured for him to take a seat before offering him coffee. "I understand you're interested in our latest prisoner?"

He settled down in his seat and took the opportunity to look around the room whilst her back was turned. "I am. I've wanted to approach her to recruit her since I took over at Torchwood, but identifying her was never high on our priorities list." There was a photo of the Commander and a woman who was probably her wife in Santorini next to the computer, and another photo of a pair of red setters looking as regal as they could on a patch of moorland. Next to the desk was a bookcase jammed full with everything from a Harvard textbook on managing change to a photography book of red setters. "Now seems like a perfect opportunity to snatch her, when she has little choice."

"Rather you than me, director," she said as she handed the coffee over and took the chair opposite him. "She's too clever by half. I reckon she'll stay six months until she's got what she needs, then leave with half your arsenal."

"Entirely possible," he conceded. "She'll fit right in at Torchwood."

The commander shook her head but couldn't fight back the smile. "Alright. She's all yours."

The interview room was huge and grey, with just two chairs and a table in the middle of it. Christina had been led in there and left to wait some time before him, and her chains prevented her from turning far enough to see him as he approached from behind her. Her hands clasped on the chair arms when he came into her peripheral vision, but she refused to look up until he was sitting in front of her, when she rolled her eyes and fixed him with a bored glare. He looked her up and down once more and turned back to his notebook. "I'm here about your job application, Lady Christina de Souza. Eldest daughter of Baron de Souza of Hemel Hempstead, an exceptional student in the subjects you liked... bordering on mediocre in the ones you didn't. Renowned as a party host, a right-wing in field hockey, and as a thief. Have I missed anything?"

"I'm also a passable oboe player, but that's purely a hobby." She smirked. "Much like theft."

"Much like most things in your life. Six months as a parliamentary researcher thanks to your father pulling some strings, two and a half months volunteering with an orphanage in Cambodia, four as an au pair in Paris... You don't stick around long, do you?" He flicked the page over and raised his eyebrows. "What makes you think you'd want to stick with this one?"

"I don't even know what job we're pretending I applied for."

"Liar." She chuckled and he looked up at her. "You know exactly who I am."

Christina leaned back in her chair. "Ianto Jones. Bodyguard to the Prime Minister, but always around when things get weird. Pretty, too." She looked up from her nails. "I assume that your charming presence here means that Torchwood is real too."

He smiled, resting one elbow on the table and his head on his cheek. "So why didn't you go with him?"

"He wouldn't have me. Said that he's lost too many people." A stubborn set to her jaw came into sharp focus as she said it, and she brushed past it quickly. "Anyway. What makes you think I'd want to stay? What could Torchwood offer me that being a parliamentary researcher can't?"

"Can being a parliamentary researcher get your bus flying?" He snapped the book shut and set it down on the table in front of her. "You're bored, and why wouldn't you be? You're a smart woman, but you're surrounded by people who only care about themselves. The best parties, the latest technology, the biggest houses and the newest cars. It's hardly exciting, is it? And as acting didn't work out for you, you turned to real life crime. Not because you want to own them, but for the thrill of it. You're an adrenaline junkie who just had to be different. Base jumping didn't cut it?"

Her eyes turned cold. "Oh, and you'd know."

"Join Torchwood, and I promise you'll be running for your life at least once a week." Most people would flinch at that, or at least show some alarm. That's why most people didn't work for Torchwood. Lady de Souza just raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow in curiosity. "I can't say we need you, but I can say that we can find a place for you."

She laughed. "Way to make a girl feel wanted. Tell me, are you one of the perks of the job?"

"Sorry, that perk has already been claimed." He smiled over at her mildly and got to his feet. "So, are you coming?"