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Special thanks to my beta IceElf2008.

"Ianto, it's so nice to see you again. It's been so long." Gwen Cooper greeted Ianto, reaching out to hug him. She received them in her new office having recently started her new position as a detective. All of them were assigned private rooms, to help keep their job as discreet as was required.

"Hi, Gwen. It's really nice to see you, too." Ianto reciprocated the hug, somewhat surprised that she still kept that level of familiarity with him.

"It's a shame we never saw each other again. Rhys and I have very fond memories of you."

"So do I. I suppose that's mostly my fault. I sort of dropped off the face of the Earth after dropping out."

"Now, now, no need to assess blame. Maybe we can correct that soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"So how can I help you?" Gwen said, finally turning to look at the man beside Ianto.

"This is my boyfriend, Jack Harkness." Gwen offered her hand, which Jack shook. "We are dealing with a somewhat difficult situation. We were hoping you could help us with it, or at least point us in the right direction."

"Okay, I'll do my best. What's going on?"

Jack and Ianto shared a look. Jack looked terrified, and Ianto tried to look reassuring. He squeezed Jack's hand.

"It's okay, Jack. You can tell her."

Jack hesitated for a while, until he finally took a deep breath, and began telling Gwen everything he'd told Ianto, albeit a slightly summarised version. He would never be able to give her so many details, relive everything again. Gwen's expression was turning more and more serious as Jack told her his story.

"Oh, Mr. Harkness, I'm so sorry." She said as soon as he finished. "You are dealing with a very concerning situation, and I apologise on behalf of my brethren back in the US for the way they've treated you."

"So you believe me, then?" Jack said incredulously.

"Of course I believe you. I've seen cases like this before. I wasn't assigned to any of them, but I've seen what happens when victims aren't taken seriously." Jack cringed at the use of the word 'victim'. "And even if I hadn't, your body language more than tells me you're not lying."

"Does that mean you can help us?" Ianto asked.

"I have to be honest with you. My hands are considerably tied in this case. For starters, there's not a lot of evidence. And secondly, it's outside my jurisdiction." Both Ianto and Jack sighed, their shoulders sagging as the hope was crushed after all of five seconds. "That doesn't mean I'll leave you hanging, though. I'd never turn my back on a friend, or on someone who clearly needs help. I have a few privileges now that I am a detective, and I intend to use every single one of them."

"Well, that's already a whole lot more help than I've ever had. So what can you do?" Jack asked, daring to feel hopeful again.

"Firstly, if you don't mind, I'd like to put a bug on your phones, both your land line and your mobile. That way, if Hart does contact you, I'll have a bit more evidence I can use. Secondly, I'll put a tail on him. Track his moves, so at least I can know if he finds you, and if he tries to come here. I don't know yet what I'll be able to do if he does, but in the very least I'll be able to give you a heads up."

"No, of course I don't mind. Do whatever you have to do. I'm still stunned that you actually believe me, let alone that you're willing to help. I'll let you do anything you need."

"Great. I'll send my most trustworthy officer, PC Davidson, to your house this afternoon, to put the bugs in, if that's all right with you."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there."

"If Hart does contact you, get in touch with me immediately. I won't keep track of all your calls, so you'll have your privacy, but they'll all be recorded so we can check the important ones. I guarantee you that anything that's not relevant to the case will be destroyed."

"At this point I don't even care about my privacy any more, but thank you."

"And I'll put everything else in motion right away. By tomorrow morning, I'll be able to tell where Hart is at any given moment, and I'll have all his calls intercepted. It will take a while, but at some point I'll also start tracking his closest associates, as soon as I've identified who they are."

"Can you really do all that?" Asked Ianto, quite astounded.

"Yes, Ianto, I can. I have contacts who can do pretty much anything I need. They didn't give me this position for nothing," she said quite smugly. "Of course, no one else has to know I'm doing any of that." She winked at them.

"Honestly, Gwen, I can't thank you enough. This is already a lot more than both of us expected," Ianto said, getting up to give Gwen a tight hug, completely out of character for him, but he thought that this particular situation called for it.

"Yes, Ms. Cooper, thank you," Jack said, getting up as well, offering his hand. "I didn't expect to be heard, I can't even believe I'm finally getting some help." Jack shook her hand firmly, his eyes expressing his gratitude more than his words could.

"Don't worry, Mr. Harkness. You're not going through all this alone any more," Gwen said, accepting Jack's hand shake.

xXxXx

"So, how are you feeling?" Ianto asked as soon as they left the station.

"Honestly? Like I'm dreaming. I've had the door slammed on my face so many times when I looked for help, that I honestly didn't think anything would change. I only came here to humour you. And I still can't believe she actually believed me. And she's actually going to try to help." Jack had a dazed expression on his face, as if he was trying to wake up. "I owe you, Ianto. Things might actually change this time, because of you." Jack pulled Ianto into a hug, still a bit out of it. Ianto hugged back, tightly.

"You owe me nothing. We're together now. Whatever hurts you, hurts me, too. And we deal with it together," Ianto whispered in Jack's ear. Then he pulled back a little, so he could look into Jack's eyes. "What do you say we take the rest of the day off, and go celebrate? And by celebrate I mean go back to yours and spend the rest of the afternoon in bed."

Jack chuckled. "I'd like that, yeah."

xXxXx

Life was going well for Jack and Ianto. Two months had passed, and their relationship was blooming. They were spending all the free time they had together (aside from Ianto's dinner with Tosh, which he kept religiously), and the change in their relationship brought them even closer, something that didn't even seem possible before. Ianto saw the wariness in Jack's eyes slowly diminishing. He seemed lighter, more relaxed, happier. Ianto couldn't be more pleased about it, and they both dared think that maybe things would work out from then on. They felt like Gwen had their back, and it was enough to let go of the constant worry.

One Sunday morning, they were woken up by Jack's phone ringing. Jack rolled over to pick it up, and Ianto grumbled, hiding his head in the pillow. He kept one hand on Jack's back, so he immediately felt when Jack went completely rigid. Ianto got up instantly, and saw Jack's face go white. He didn't need Jack to tell him who was on the other side of the line. Ianto picked up the phone from Jack's hand, which was shaking violently, and quietly put it on speaker-phone.

"Oh, come on, Jackie, you're not even going to talk to me?" Ianto heard John Hart's voice coming from the phone. He felt shivers run down his spine, and he knew Jack wasn't exaggerating when he talked about how perverse he was. Not that he'd ever doubted Jack anyway. Ianto saw that Jack looked like he was about to go into shock, so he reached over to hold his hand, trying to ground him. "I went to all this trouble to track you down, and now you won't even let me hear your voice? I miss you, Jackie." There was a very short pause. "Oh, I know, maybe you're just too busy with that new boyfriend of yours. Leave it to you to find such a nice piece of eye candy. Ianto Jones. Nice, strong name." Both man shuddered, but Ianto tried really hard to control it. He didn't want to make Jack even more nervous. " You know I can't let him have you, Jackie. You'll always be mine and I don't like to share. You better get rid of him, or I might have to do it for you." There was a pause, while John's words hung over the both of them. Ianto was getting really freaked out by now, and Jack was completely unresponsive. Ianto was desperately trying to think of a way to end this call without provoking the sick man on the other end of the line, when John started talking again. "Tell you what, since you're not going to talk to me anyway. I'll finish sorting out the final details for my upcoming trip to Wales – I've heard it's a beautiful country – and I'll pay you a visit when I get there. I think it's going to be a little harder for you not to talk to me when we're face to face. You know how persuasive I can be. Oh, and you'd better be prepared to welcome me properly. You wouldn't want to disappoint me, now, would you?" Another short pause, and Jack suddenly reacted, quickly getting up from the bed. "Bye, Jackie. I'll see you soon." John disconnected the call.

Immediately afterwards, Ianto could hear Jack retching from the bathroom. He promptly followed Jack, finding him sitting on the bathroom floor, leaning towards the toilet, still dry-heaving, even though his stomach was completely empty now. Ianto sat down, pulling Jack towards him, whilst flushing the toilet. He held Jack tightly, rubbing circles on his back, kissing his hair, whispering soothing words in his ear.

"It's okay, Jack. I'm here. It's going to be okay," Ianto repeated, over and over, trying to exude a calmness he wasn't sure he was feeling . It took a very long time, but slowly Jack started to relax a bit in Ianto's arms. Or maybe it was just him sagging, defeated.

"He knows about you, Yan. He threatened you," Jack said so quietly Ianto barely heard him.

"It's okay, Jack. We'll figure it out. Let's call Gwen, and we'll figure something out together."

"You shouldn't be with me. You're going to be at risk if you stay with me."

Ianto pulled back and held Jack's face in his hands, looking straight into his eyes.

"Jack, I'm not going anywhere. I've told you before, and I'll say it again. You don't have to deal with this on your own any more. I'm staying with you, no matter what."

"I need you to be safe."

"I will be safe. And so will you. We've got help this time. We're going to end this, I promise you." Jack buried his face into Ianto's shoulder again, while Ianto kept his strong hold over Jack. They stayed there for a while longer.

"Why don't we go back to bed, and I'll call Gwen?"

"Okay. Just don't let me go, okay?"

"I won't, Jack. I won't."

"Okay, Gwen said she's going to recover the call, analyse it and get back to us," Ianto said while hanging up the phone. He was still holding Jack, who had his head on Ianto's chest. Ianto kissed the top of Jack's head, and stayed there for a while. "It's going to be okay, love," Ianto murmured into Jack's hair. "He won't get to us, I promise you. He's not going to hurt you anymore."

"You don't know that," Jack said, voice still a bit hoarse.

"We have help now, remember? Gwen is very competent at her job, and she's got her team to back her up now. He won't have the same power he had before." Ianto was holding Jack tightly, both arms around him now. "Also, he's severely mistaken about me. It would take a whole lot more to get me to back down. I can be very, very fierce when I'm protecting the people I love."

"You what?" Jack looked up, surprised , eyes red and swollen from crying.

"Me what what?" Ianto was suddenly confused.

"You... You love me?" Jack stared into Ianto's eyes, insecurity and doubt clouding his own.

"Of course I do, sweetheart. More than anything." Ianto smiled softly, stroking Jack's cheek, and placed a light kiss on Jack's forehead.

Jack looked completely dumbfounded. He kept staring at Ianto, as if trying to confirm he was actually there, saying those things.

"You're really not used to things like that, are you?" Ianto asked gently, cupping Jack's chin, keeping Jack's eyes on his. "I'll change that, I promise. Give me enough time, and you'll get so used to being loved that it will be like you never knew any different." He placed gentle kisses all over Jack's face, promising to himself that he would do everything he could to show Jack, every day, just how much he loved him, how much he cared.

They remained in the same position for what felt like hours. Ianto kept holding Jack, alternating between kissing his head, stroking his cheek, rubbing circles around his back. At some point, Jack dozed off, but Ianto never stopped his movements. He got lost in thoughts, pained by what he'd just realised. He knew how much John had hurt Jack, but for the first time it actually dawned on him that just getting rid of him wouldn't be enough. Jack was not only traumatised, but he'd also associated love to what John had done to him. He didn't know how to accept real love, let alone give it in return. Ianto was determined to help Jack change that. He knew it wouldn't be easy. Jack would need a lot of help, and not only from him, but probably even professional help. Whatever happened though, Ianto would be there, every step of the way. He knew that it might take a while until Jack became capable of accepting, feeling and showing true love, but Ianto didn't care. He'd wait as long as he had to. He'd never give up on Jack.

The phone rang a few hours later, pulling Ianto from his thoughts and waking Jack up. Ianto saw that it was Gwen calling, so he answered and put it on speaker-phone.

"Hi, Gwen."

"Hey, Ianto. Is Jack there?"

"Yeah, you're on speaker-phone."

"Oh, great. As far as I can tell, I have good news. For one, Hart's started giving us evidence that he is in fact harassing Jack. It will be useful to have this, if we ever have to do something official about it. At least now we have something to start working with. Secondly, I re-checked all my sources, plus all airlines. There doesn't appear to be any sign that Hart is coming here. Unless he's doing it under the radar, but I don't really think he is. Either way, I'll start keeping track of all flights. I'm going as big as I can with this, assuming he could be flying from anywhere to anywhere. Although I think if he does come, he'll make it easy for us. I don't believe he's got any idea that you have this much help now. He'll probably assume he's got as much pull as he had before. But he doesn't, not here. Even if we don't know how he found out about Ianto, that doesn't mean he's got eyes on you all the time. I doubt he does, he's not that important in that gang of his, not any more at least. He might have connections here who might help, but not enough to go too much out of their way for him. All in all, I'd say to both of you not to worry. We still have this under control."

"That's great news, Gwen," Ianto said. Jack was completely silent, not manifesting any kind of reaction the whole time Gwen was talking. "I have to ask, though, what happens if he does try to come here?"

"It will get a little more complicated, but we'll still have it under control. We don't have enough to stop him getting into the country. But considering we'll most likely know when he comes, we'll keep track of him at all times, and we'll assign a protective detail to both of you. In all honesty, all he's going to do is give us more evidence."

"Um, Gwen, what you're doing for us... that's not really in your job description, is it? You wouldn't be doing this if it were someone else, would you?"

"No, Ianto, I wouldn't. I couldn't, really. But you're a good bloke, and a friend. And Jack has suffered enough already. I've seen and heard of way too many cases of people getting the short end of the stick because my people didn't do their jobs properly. I'm not making that mistake. I would never forgive myself if something happened to either of you. I'm going as far as I possibly can with this."

"I... I don't even know what to say. Thank you," Ianto said as earnestly as he possibly could.

"That's more than enough, Ianto. I just want the both of you to be okay. I'll call you if anything new comes up. In the meantime, don't give this bastard any more of your time. Keep living your lives, and know that as far as I'm concerned, he won't get away with hurting you."

"Thank you, Gwen," Ianto repeated, since Jack still wasn't moving. "Enjoy the rest of your Sunday."

"You, too."

"See, Jack?" Ianto said as soon as he hung up. "It's all going to be okay. Gwen is taking care of us, and I'll take care of you. You'll be fine." Jack didn't move, and Ianto let him be. He knew he'd have to be patient, and he didn't have a problem with that.