I'm SO sorry it took me a while to post this. I wanted to rewrite this chapter and then life got in the way, both for me and my beta. But it's here now, and I hope you enjoy it.

Immense thanks to IceElf2008 for her invaluable help.

The idea was to do just as Gwen had told them – to keep living their lives as normal, and not give John the satisfaction of knowing how much he was affecting them, or even give him any clues that they even knew he was there.

Ianto tried to do that and he wanted to help Jack do the same, but he soon realised that it might not be possible. They went to work as usual – sometimes doing their own thing, sometimes seeing clients together. They had decided to keep the original arrangement because it had worked so well – even if he had said it would only be for a while. Ianto didn't mind, he loved it, actually. It really made him feel like he wasn't abandoning his initial career plans and even more importantly, he didn't feel like a failure. He felt like his parents could finally be proud of him.

This closeness ended up being their salvation. Ianto could see what was happening to Jack, and to try to fix it before it got too late. But there was little that he could do – Jack was crumbling before his eyes. All the reasons that had driven Ianto to work with him in the first place were back, but worse. Ianto frequently saw Jack fighting off a panic attack, trying to hide it from the clients, but Ianto never allowed Jack to let go. Finally, Ianto convinced Jack to talk to his boss, and they arranged for Jack to take some time off work.

Ianto to keep his routine and maintain all his lessons. The first night of this arrangement, though, when he went to Jack's house to stay with him, he realised that it would be impossible. Jack looked exhausted, terrified and about to break down at any moment. Ianto called Gwen and told her that he was going to cancel all his lessons until further notice and stay with Jack all the time. Gwen wasn't happy at all about this. She thought this might give John a clue that they knew he was coming, or even worse, realise that he still held power over Jack. But Ianto wouldn't budge. He understood what Gwen was saying, but he said that Jack's well being came first, and he wouldn't leave him alone. Jack needed support, and Ianto would be there for him. If that changed how John perceived things in any way, they'd just have to adapt.

John arrived the following day. As promised, Gwen's team had installed cameras around both Ianto's and Jack's houses (even if Ianto was staying with Jack) and they were tracking John's movements, via GPS or CCTV footage around town. She had someone watching the footage and tracking him, and also officers on stand-by at all times, ready to get into action if John attempted anything.

John went straight to a very shady hotel and left no more than five minutes later, headed straight for Jack's house. It was evening by then, around dinner time. John spent a long time hiding in the shadows, observing the silhouettes of the two men – the only thing he could make out behind the closed curtains – eating and then moving to what John assumed was the living room to watch TV. Gwen's personnel kept watch, but there was nothing they could do yet. Technically John wasn't bothering anyone by just standing on the street for hours.

After a few hours, John got tired of watching the two men and went back to his hotel. He felt the first surges of fury grow inside him, enraged that Jack seemed to be happy, in a healthy relationship with a man he'd been told was handsome, decent, and in his mate's words 'quite a catch'. He decided he'd just come back the next day and follow Jack when he went to work, so he could catch him alone. It didn't matter how wonderful Jack's 'boyfriend' was, he'd make their lives so miserable that this Ianto would certainly want to leave Jack, and then John would have him back.

He came back the next day and was surprised to notice that neither man left the house that morning. It was nearing noon and it didn't seem likely that would change any time soon. From the outside, all John could see was that they barely left each other's side. They looked cosy together and to John's eyes, sickeningly in love. His rage got even stronger. Were they really that close that they would stay together every second of the day? Of course he didn't know that he was the reason for that or that Jack needed constant support, because he was always close to having a nervous breakdown.

In fact, John really had no idea what was happening. He was flying blind now. He had someone in Cardiff who owed him a favour and happily followed Jack for a while until he learned enough about Ianto, but he'd made it clear that that was as far as he'd go. As soon as he had enough information, he told John that he'd paid his debt, and he wouldn't help him anymore. So now John had no idea what had happened to the couple in the almost two months it took him to finally come here.

He would've come sooner, but things back home weren't going well. He'd done some really bad things right after he called Jack the first time, and his 'gang' were more willing to mess with him than help him. He'd actually had to spend some time in hiding before he was able to move and fly here. One more reason for him to harass Jack again. He felt the need to assert his power over someone and Jack just seemed like the most obvious choice, considering how miserable and ruined he'd been when John left him. It would be nice for John to get Jack back and start a new life in Cardiff. He'd been sure that it would be a very easy task, Jack had always been putty in his hands. John did love him, after all – in his sick, perverse way. They could be happy together.

He kept coming back for the next few days and seeing that the situation never changed just made him angrier and angrier. How could he possibly mess with Jack if he couldn't get to him? He'd always hoped that he would see Jack face to face, force Jack to deal with him. After all, when he'd called, Jack never even talked to him. Why were they home all the time? Were they on holiday or something? Were they really this ridiculously in love that they didn't even bother travelling, they just wanted to spend all their time together?

Gwen was starting to get anxious. Okay, she had footage of John standing in front of Jack's house for hours, but he'd never done anything other than that. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince anyone to take any measures against him yet. She couldn't even prove that he was stalking Jack, John could have any number of reasons for being there and surely that's what any defence attorney would say. That's why she'd wanted them to keep their routine; that would easily have forced John's hand. She did understand Ianto, although it had to be said, she had no idea things with Jack were so bad. Of course she expected him to be traumatised, but not to this level. What John had done to him had probably been a lot worse than what Jack had let on when they first talked in the station.

But there was nothing she could do. She'd have to wait until John got tired and started messing up. The only problem was that her crew were getting tired, too. Because she was doing everything on her own, never having gotten the approval from her superiors to go ahead with the investigation, most of the officers working for her were doing this as overtime. At first they didn't mind, they were loyal to her, but loyalty only goes so far. They were getting frustrated and unfocused and Gwen started to think that it was quickly becoming a matter of waiting to see who would break first: John, her team, or even worse, Jack.

Then, a few days after John arrived, the first ray of hope shone through. Apparently, John was losing his patience and he rang Jack. Gwen's team were ready for that, and they listened to the whole conversation in real time. Gwen had instructed Jack that no matter what happened, he had to pick up the call and act as normal as possible. Of course she now knew that this would never happen, but they needed something to use against him.

Jack and Ianto were sitting in the sofa in the living room, watching TV. They had their backs to the window, so all anyone looking from the outside could see was Ianto leaning into Jack, his arm around his shoulders and Jack resting his head on Ianto's shoulder. They just looked like an adorable couple enjoying a show happily together. That meant that John never saw the look of horror that spread over Jack's face when he saw who was calling him.

"Hi, Jackie," John's silky voice flowed from the phone.

Just like last time, Jack froze and couldn't get a single word out. He knew he had to try to appear normal, but he was in shock again. Ianto tightened his grip around Jack's shoulder and was moving to take the phone from Jack's hand to put it on speaker-phone again, when he heard John's voice through the phone. It was almost pressed against his ear because of the way he was holding Jack.

"Don't you two look adorable together? All cuddled up watching the evening news." There was a pause, and a frustrated sigh could be heard. Of course John didn't know that the reason they weren't moving was because even Ianto was panicking now. "Does he know, Jackie? How fucked up you are? How long do you think it will take for him to see the real you, the useless, worthless, weak you, and leave you for someone better?"

Fury rose up Ianto's chest, and he almost said something, but he knew better than that and stayed quiet.

"You should know that no one will ever love you as I do. Cute eye-candy is just passing his time with you until he finds something better. Sure, he's all romantic now, but that can't last long. You'll come back to me, Jackie. I'll be right here, waiting until you do." And with that he hung up.

Jack and Ianto remained motionless for a long time. Ianto just leaned in closer to press soft kisses on Jack's cheek. They didn't know how long John would be there watching, and they could never give him the satisfaction of knowing that they were truly terrified.

At the station, Gwen was torn between relief and desperation. She finally had some evidence that John was harassing Jack, but she knew that it was probably not enough. What was really worrying her, though, was the last thing he said. That he'd wait. Deep inside, Gwen had always held the hope that even if all else failed, John would eventually give up and go back home. Now she wasn't so sure. She would have to try to get someone above her to pay some attention to the case, so she could protect her friends.

In that sense, John actually helped. Considering that this was his only option, he kept making phone calls every day. He'd always make them when he was in front of Jack's house, so he could keep telling them where they were and what they were doing, in hopes that eventually this would upset Ianto enough for him to leave. But all he was doing was making Gwen's job easier. The more he did, the more she had evidence of stalking and harassment. So she went to a judge to get what she needed to do to finally be able to provide Jack and Ianto with some relief.

She never expected what was coming. She was sure that as soon as she had proof, she would be able to at least get Jack a restraining order on John, which would hopefully help her friends get their lives back and, in time, even get him out of the country. She got neither. "What, this guy is afraid of a few phone calls?" the judge had said. "I don't care how much of your time you've been wasting on this, Detective Cooper, but it's useless. I'm not about to provided protection to a coward sinner. As far as I'm concerned, he asked for trouble by ignoring the Lord's law. If he wants to lie with another man, he'd better be ready to face the consequences. Tell him to go fight his own battles."

Gwen was crushed. She'd never expected that. She knew that people had a tendency to ignore victims of abuse, especially when they were male, but she really believed that having physical evidence would be enough. John was clearly harassing Jack, for Christ's sake. What more could she possibly do?

She knew she'd have to call Jack and Ianto to give them the bad news, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was seriously concerned about what it would do to Jack. Both men were at the end of their rope and she didn't think they would be able to take much more. She was sad, frustrated, disappointed with her own profession and honestly, she was lost. She had no idea what more she could do now.

So John kept calling, the situation between Jack and Ianto was getting worse and worse – Gwen knew that even Ianto was getting close to breaking point by now – and she was losing members of her team. One by one they were leaving her, saying that all this overtime was causing them problems and that they couldn't do it anymore. They were all stretched thin, and she knew something would have to give. She just prayed that she wouldn't be proved a liar when she'd promised Jack and Ianto that they would be okay.

One day, John spent the whole day inside his hotel. Even he was getting tired. He'd expected that something would have happened by now. He thought that Ianto would have already left, that he would have been able to talk to Jack. He'd considered many times just knocking on Jack's door and barging in, but Ianto being there made it a terrible option. He knew his presence would have a lot less effect on Jack with his 'loving boyfriend' there. He was getting incredibly pissed off and frustrated and decided he'd have to do something. He spent most of the day coming up with a plan, and after making a phone call, he rushed out of the hotel, an aggressive, murderous scowl on his face.

xXxXx

In the station, one of the few members of Gwen's team that had stayed was keeping watch of the feed coming from the cameras outside Jack's house and tracking John's phone. He was at the end of a twelve hour shift, and he could barely keep his eyes open. John hadn't moved, Jack's street had been practically empty all day and he was bored stupid. He didn't even notice when he reclined back on his chair and fell asleep.

xXxXx

Jack and Ianto were drained of all their strength. All the tension was getting to them. Jack was practically a zombie. He had dark rings around his eyes, he'd lost weight again, and he was barely even talking to Ianto. Ianto was deeply worried; he didn't know what else he could do. He was scared that at some point Jack would be so out of his mind that he might do something stupid. He practically forced a nearly motionless Jack to shower and get into bed, and he lay beside him, consumed by worry, until he finally fell into a deep sleep, spent with exhaustion.

xXxXx

It was the middle of the night, and a phone rang. There was a grumble and some movement, and a sleepy voice answered, making the shrill sound stop.

"Ianto?"

"Um... Yeah... Sorry, Gwen?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Ianto was awake in a second. A call in the middle of the night could only mean something bad. He looked next to him, and saw an empty, cold bed. He could see that the whole house was dark. He immediately panicked.

"Gwen, what happened?"