'Please.'

'No'

'Please'

'No'

'Please, Toshiko. Please, please, please, please, please.'

Tosh sighed; Owen had been on her case ever since she had revealed her familiarity with the Cardiff dark net. He seemed fascinated with her involvement with the sexual underworld and had been pestering her to introduce him either to some of the chat rooms or to take him with her to one of the sex clubs that he was certain she frequented. It was the same every morning and it was driving her insane.

Owen took advantage of her moment of introspection, 'please?'

'No'

Owen managed to pout like a five year old being denied an ice-cream, 'why? Why won't you?'

Time for some truth telling thought Tosh, 'because I work with you and that would make it weird but mainly because you are too...' she stopped herself, looking at her colleagues sulky face; maybe Owen wasn't ready to hear the truth.

'I'm too what?' demanded Owen. Tosh shook her head, already regretting getting into this with Owen; she should have just stuck with repeating "no" until he got bored and wandered off. 'C'mon Tosh, 'demanded Owen, 'I'm too what?'

'Too vanilla'

Owen was outraged. 'Too vanilla?' he spluttered, 'too vanilla?

Tosh met his infuriated state levelly, 'I'm afraid so' she said. 'You have trust issues which would hamper your career as a sub and you are too self-centered to be an attractive dom.'

Owen bridled, 'what would you know about it?'

Tosh held up her arm so that Owen could see the slim leather bracelet encircling her wrist, 'you must have noticed this before,' she said, 'to those in the know it advertises the fact that I am a dom. That means that I control the sexual, psychological and physical experiences of my submissive. I control their pleasure and their sexual release and they trust me to care for them.'

Owen had a sudden vision of kneeling as Tosh's feet, obeying her every command, trusting her to bring him pleasure at her own discretion. He pants became uncomfortably tight and he found it difficult to speak, his throat and mouth were dry. 'Could you...would you...' he began.

'Not for you, no,' said Tosh firmly, 'we are work mates, it would be too difficult. I don't believe you would be able to separate a dom/sub relationship from a professional one. Not everyone is a experienced and flexible as Ja...' she bit her lip and trailed off.

Too late.

'As experienced and flexible as Jack?' asked Owen unbelievingly. 'Jack. JACK has been your sub?' he laughed harshly, 'I don't believe it.'

Tosh met his eyes unblushingly, 'It's not a regular thing but sometimes I gave him what he needs.'

'How did...how did...erm, when...'

Tosh took pity on him, 'You remember that time we had a run in with the slave ship?' Owen did, the slavers had murdered their cargo to avoid what they had termed "legal complications," Jack had taken it very badly. Tosh continued, 'after it was all over, I felt I needed to just, I don't know, re-find myself so I went to one of the clubs I use sometimes, just for a drink in the first place. The club owner approached me and said that one of his most cherished clients was in need of domination; he asked if I could help. It was what I needed too so I agreed.' she paused

'And it was Jack?'

'It was Jack'

'And it was just that one time?'

Tosh shook her head, 'no, we have an...informal arrangement.' She thought about Jack's burgeoning relationship with Ianto and smiled gently, 'although I suspect that Jack may be seeking satisfaction from other sources in the near future.'

'Do you love him?' somehow Owen found that thought more worrying than Tosh acting as Jack's Dom,

'Of course I do' said Tosh, 'but probably not in the way you mean. Jack knows I love him and that allows him to place his utmost trust in me, I know Jack loves me and that allows me to care for him in the way he needs but we are not in love with each other.'

'Bloody hell' Owen was not at all sure how to assimilate what Tosh had just said but, before he could continue his interrogation Tosh abruptly changed the subject.

'Owen, do you know what happened to Gwen after you left her on the plas?' she asked

Blinking slightly at the conversational one eighty, Owen shrugged, 'Jack told me to dump her, so I dumped her. Why?'

'There has been no mention of her. Nothing in the news, nothing on the police bands, it's like she disappeared into thin air. If that retcon plus is everything you and Jack say it was you would think someone would have mentioned finding a completely amnesic, incontinent, woman wandering the plas.'

Owen frowned, she was right, 'so, what are you saying, Tosh?'

'I'm not sure,' said Tosh musingly, 'it's just odd that's all.' Before she could continue the computer at her work station began to alarm. Tosh flew over to her desk and began frantically to tap the keys, 'yessss' she hissed between clenched teeth, 'oh yeah, come to mama.'

When Ianto woke, the first thing he noticed was that he was alone in his bed. For a moment a cold spasm of fear gripped his heart, he had given Jack full and frank disclosure abut his life and Jack had obviously found it too much to deal with and left at the earliest opportunity.Probably gone back to Adam, to pick up where he left off, thought Ianto, after all he is a better prospect than me and I notice that Jack was careful not to mention him last night However, as Ianto began to manoeuvre himself into a sitting position prior to transferring to his wheelchair he spotted a note on Jack's pillow. Heart pounding he unfolded the paper and read...

My darling boy,

I can't tell you how much I valued the trust you placed in me last night when you told me your story. Please don't think that because I am not with you when you wake up I am in any way judging you or that I have deserted you. I promise that will never happen. This is not the way I would have chosen to tell you but I love you Ianto Jones and, if you will allow me, I'll live in the hope that one day you might love me.

Last night was an emotional one for you and I know how exhausting that is so I have gone to open the shop for you to give you time to rest and centre yourself before you come downstairs. I know that sometimes when a person has shared their deepest secrets they feel a bit shy of the person they shared them with so I'll understand if you want to avoid me for a bit but, I would really like to take you out to dinner as soon as possible so that we can talk about whether you think there could be an...us

I love you

Your Jack.

P.S We didn't talk about Adam, last night but let me reassure you that there is nothing between us, it was just a one night thing. I know that probably makes me a bit of a slut but with the love of a good man I'm sure I am redeemable

The post script made Ianto smile; he glanced at the clock, it was 10.30 – he had never been in bed so late in the morning. He rolled onto his back and crushed the note against his chest, Jack Harkness was in love with him, Jack Harkness wanted a future with him, Jack Harkness had spent most of the previous night stroking and kissing his body as if he worshipped it and one thing Ianto was sure of more than anything else in his life was that he most definitely DID want there to be "an...us"

Jack was working in the bookshop with a broad smile that he just could not seem to keep off his face. His good humour infected the other sales assistants and the customers also, so all in all the atmosphere Celtic Mythos was a particularly cheerful one. Even Adam, who may have been a problem in Jack's embryonic relationship with Ianto, had spent a good thirty minutes helping a pretty young man select a birthday gift for his mother; the interaction concluding with the young man borrowing a felt tip pen and writing his phone number on Adam's arm. Adam saw that Jack was watching and gave a sheepish smile but Jack threw him a big grin and mouthed 'go for it, he is gorgeous' making Adam's face light up.

From time to time Jack glanced up to the gallery, hoping to see Ianto. He knew that Ianto liked to survey the store from that vantage point. Just as he was about to check for the umpteenth time he attention was snagged by the furtive movement of a man outside on the plas. The man, and Jack was certain he was one of the people that Tosh had identified as members of the dark net, was scrutinising the plas carefully and moving somewhat casually to the shop opposite the bookstore which, apparently sold dancewear and ballet shoes and rejoiced in the name of " Dance-a-palooza." Even as he watched the man's outline seemed to flicker briefly as he disappeared, at the same time the bracelet on Jack's wrist cooled and began to vibrate and his phone began to ring almost simultaneously.