Ianto turned away from Jack. He hadn't been ready for that kiss. He heard Jack, too, turn and walk away behind him. Ianto took a long breath and started towards the round door. He could hear Jack's office door open and close.

Then, for the second time that night, there was a crash from behind that closed door, accompanied this time by a shouted curse. Ianto spun around again and burst into the office.

Jack had slipped and fell on the puddle of his own blood. He was fine—already scrambling back up off the ground—but he had an expression of terror on his face. He tried to erase the look of fear as soon as he saw Ianto, and he clutched at the desk for support.

"Sorry," he said, trying to smile but failing miserably. "I'll—I'll just clean it up in the morning, I can't do it tonight…"

"Jack, it's alright, I can clean it up—."

"No, you've done plenty—."

"Shut up!"

"What?"

"I'm not going to leave you here to go to sleep with a pool of your own blood on the floor!"

"It wouldn't be the first time in the past year I've had to do that!" Jack shouted. He flinched at his own words.

Ianto winced. "Well, I'm not letting it happen again."

"Forget it."

"No."

"I didn't mean to say anything like that! It just slipped out: seriously, forget it."

"Absolutely not."

"Please, it doesn't matter."

"It does, of course it does. You'll just be lying awake all night, trying not to think of what's happened and failing. Jack, you should come home with me."

A tiny smile played across Jack's face. "A while ago, that would have been music to my ears."

Ianto turned red. "Not like that."

"I know."

A pause. "Will you come? I'll take care of this," Ianto said, gesturing at the blood, "tomorrow."

Jack hesitated. "Okay," he answered finally. "Okay, let's go. Thanks." He avoided looking at Ianto, but took the Welshman's outstretched hand and followed him.

... ... ... ... ...

The drive back to Ianto's flat passed in silence. Ianto kept glancing over at Jack, not sure whether he was asleep or not. His eyes were closed, but his head was upright and his breathing was not especially even or slow.

"Jack," Ianto said softly when they had parked, "Jack, we're here." Jack opened his eyes immediately. Apparently he hadn't been asleep.

"Okay." They got out of the car together and walked up the stairs to Ianto's flat. Ianto opened the door for Jack, and the captain walked in. He looked around. "It's been a while since I've been here, hasn't it? I mean, even for you, ignoring my year away."

Ianto frowned as he closed and locked the door. "Have you ever been to my flat before now, Jack?"

Jack sat down on the dark blue couch with a sigh. "Well, yeah." Ianto came and sat in the armchair across the coffee table from the couch. "Remember, after…well. After the trip to the country last fall when you got hurt."

"Ah." Ianto glanced away from Jack. "Yeah. I remember. Of course. When everyone decided they needed to take turns sitting here waiting for me to wake up."

"After you passed out…after starting to cough up blood," Jack pointed out.

"Owen figured out that the blood was just from when they almost broke my nose, dripping down into my throat." Ianto reached up and tapped said nose. "So your worry was irrational."

"Not irrational," Jack corrected. "Honestly? We were all more concerned with what you would try to do when you woke up."

Ianto raised his eyebrows. "Like what?"

"We had no idea," the captain admitted. "It was so close to...what happened with Lisa. You weren't really talking to any of us."

"No, I wasn't," Ianto agreed, shortly. Somehow, the memory of Lisa still stung. Jack looked apologetic for bringing it up, and they went silent.

It was only after a couple minutes of silence that Ianto realized that Jack's eyes had closed. He was falling asleep, Ianto could tell. "Jack? Would you be alright with staying here to sleep?"

"Hm?" Jack said, blinking. "Oh, of course. Night, Yan."

"Goodnight, Jack," Ianto replied, standing up.

"And, Ianto? Thanks."

Ianto smiled as he turned off the light and walked out of the living room and into his bedroom. "Goodnight, Jack," he said again.

... ... ... ... ...

Ianto woke suddenly. A slight noise in the other room startled him, and he sat bolt upright. He got out of bed and walked quietly into his living room. A tiny whimper could be heard from the couch, and then Jack's voice muttered softly "No. No. Please. Not him. Stop. No, please." There was a small gasp. "Stop!"

"Jack?" Ianto called softly, edging around the couch to stand over the dreaming immortal. Jack had curled up as much as he could without falling off of the sofa. His face was pressed into his hands. "Jack. Wake up, it's just a nightmare."

Jack didn't wake up. His voice was even more panicked now. "Don't hurt him, please, no. Stop! I can't let you kill him! Not Ianto. Not him." Ianto felt a jolt of surprise.

"Jack!" he said once more.

"Please, I'll do anything, kill me as many times as you want, just leave him alone, stop hurting him." Jack cried out. "No!"

That was enough. "Wake up, Jack!" Ianto said loudly, shaking the captain by the shoulders. With a gasp almost as violent as when he returned to life, Jack sat up, eyes snapping open. They fell on Ianto.

"Ianto, you're okay!"

"Jack, it was just a dream," Ianto soothed. "I'm fine, look. You're fine. We're both safe. No one is hurting us."

Jack was breathing hard. "What?"

Ianto sat down next to Jack. "Just a dream," he repeated softly. Jack leant into Ianto and the Welshman wrapped his arms around Jack. He was trembling. "That's all it was. It's okay now, everything's all right. Shhh, just a nightmare." Ianto held Jack close as his shivering slowed and then ceased. "Jack," he whispered then, "how long has it been since you slept? I mean, slept naturally, and well."

"Ianto…I only got back today. I've been trapped for a year. It's the first night since I got free." Jack was being open. That was good.

"Go back to sleep, then, Jack. You're exhausted. I don't want you to drop dead again."

Jack pulled away sharply. "No, I'm not going to sleep anymore."

"Because of the nightmares?"

Jack looked away.

"Jack, go to sleep. You can't stay awake forever."

"I don't want to." He sounded stubborn as a child.

Ianto sighed. "I'll be right here, Jack. I won't let you have any more nightmares, I promise."

"What? You'll stay with me?"

"Or you could come into the bedroom with me. I mean—." Ianto blushed furiously. "I mean, it'd be more comfortable than staying on the couch."

Even though Jack was exhausted and still reeling from his nightmare, he managed to laugh at Ianto's discomfort. He got quiet again quickly, though. "Yeah, all right," he agreed.

Ianto blinked as he realized something. "Oh, damn, I forgot to give you clothes that aren't, you know, bloodstained."

Jack tilted his head at this sudden change of topic. "Oh…kay."

Ianto stood up. "I'll be right back." He rushed into his room. A couple seconds later, he came out carrying an old t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. "I think these'll fit," he said anxiously. Jack took them.

"Thanks, Yan. Hey, I'll come in in just a minute," he said, gesturing towards the bedroom.

"Yeah, okay." Ianto turned quickly and walked off.

He climbed into his bed, closing his eyes, his back to the door. A minute or so later, he heard the surprisingly quiet footsteps of the captain coming closer. Ianto didn't open his eyes.

There was a moment's hesitation, and then Jack's weight settled onto the other side of the mattress. Ianto felt him shift closer, tentatively, as if unsure of how close Ianto would let him come. Ianto, too, shifted a bit closer to Jack, rolling ninety degrees so he lay on his back rather than his side, and stretched a hand out to touch Jack's shoulder softly, letting him know that it was okay.

Jack turned so he lay on his stomach and put his hands under his face, which was turned towards Ianto. The captain closed his eyes slowly, and let his breathing even out and slow down. Ianto flipped onto his stomach, too, and reached an arm across Jack's back to pull the comforter up over both of them equally. He didn't pull his arm back.

"Ianto Jones," Jack murmured, half asleep.

"Captain Jack Harkness," Ianto returned softly.

"Goodnight."

"And you. No more bad dreams."

"Yep…" Jack's whisper trailed away. Ianto smiled as he, too, left the world of the waking for the one of dark and indecision, safe.

Oh, so, so long since the first half of this story was published. I hope this met your expectations if you've been waiting since that day. It took me much longer than I thought it would, but how I loved writing it. The 'post-Countrycide' events Ianto and Jack mentioned briefly are detailed in another one of my TW fics, To Fear Like A Child. Thank you so much for reading this. I love you all. Goodnight.