Chapter 5
Jack swung the SUV into it's parking spot and the team quickly got out and unloaded the SUV, paying no attention to his current mood.
He was worried, not about the corpse or the alien artefact they'd found at the construction site that morning but about Ianto.
It had been a month since that day that Ianto regained consciousness at Dex and Ari's.
A month since Gwen had called him and told him they needed him back here for an alien ship that had landed and refused to speak to anyone but him.
A month since he'd come back to Cardiff, and everyday since then at 5 in the morning when Ianto would normally come in to feed Myfanwry, the weevils and do his other morning chores, they would speak by messenger or phone.
A month of Ianto using Jack as a confidant, telling him about his lessons and how he was handling adapting to his new life. While Jack kept him up to date on the happenings in Cardiff.
But not this morning, Ianto wasn't logged in. When Jack rang the house phone it went to message bank and when he rang Ianto's mobile it came up out of range.
He was going to find out as soon as he got into his office and the others left him alone for a minute. Hell if it hadn't have been for the call out he would have traced Ianto's mobile by now to find out exactly where he was.
Following the rest of the team who were carrying their gear and chatting away trying to guess what the alien device was they payed no attention to the hub they were walking into.
Jack froze as he stepped through the main door into the hub.
Something was different.
Scanning the hub he took in anything and everything.
The place was clean, he'd been making sure to do the dishes and take out the trash every night so there wasn't to much of a mess for Ianto to clean up, but was it his imagination or was it cleaner than what he left it?
Myfanwry was perched in her loft, preening herself like normal, but was she keening happily about something?
And was that fresh Coffee he could smell?
Ianto!
A huge grin split Jack's face and he was just about to dash off to find the young Welshman when he stopped himself.
What the hell was he doing?! He was acting like a love struck teenager who's boyfriend just got back from a long trip.
He liked Ianto, he'd come to that conclusion not long after he'd met the young man, and had been trying to flirt his way into his pants ever since, but it was just attraction nothing more. He just needed a good lay.
Although he'd found himself missing the young Welshman in his absence and looking froward to their chatting in the morning. He'd been antsy all morning when he thought there was something wrong and now he felt like nothing better than running through the hub to find him.
Fuck... I'm in trouble, I cannot be falling for him, I can't afford to fall in love again, I always loose them and it hurts so much. Jack thought staring at the watertower lost in thought ignoring the rest of his surroundings.
But you don't have to loose Ianto he's a Pirask now, it's possible he'll live as long as you do. The other side of his reasoning argued.
Ianto looks up to you as a friend, older brother, maybe even father figure now he knows how old you really are, he's never going to think about you like that. The negative side added
Then again he was checking you out a little at the house...
"Jack are you ok?" Gwen asked from where she sat at her desk
"What?" Jack asked snapping out of his thoughts
"Are you ok? You seem a little...distracted," She repeated looking at him like he'd lost his mind.
"I'm fine," Jack said and headed into his office, groaning inwardly when he heard her get up to follow him.
Ianto glared at the large box that someone had pulled down from the top shelf while he was away and not bothered to put it back, it's contents spread out on the floor around it.
He'd gotten back a few hours ago to find the team out on call.
So much for surprising Jack with his return, no he had to stop doing that, so much for surprising the team with his return.
He'd gone about giving the main floor of the hub a quick clean down, quite pleased to see that Jack had taken his request to keep the hub at least tidy while he was away.
He'd fed Myfanwry the anchovies, her favourite, that he'd picked up for her on his way in and spent some time talking to her, before heading down to see what sort of a mess his archives were in.
Swearing in Welsh at whoever it happened to be, he quickly placed everything back in the box and balancing the heavy box on his hip, he climbed up the ladder to the top shelf which was a good 10 meters above the ground.
Upon reaching the top he realised that the ladder must have been bumped at some point and was actually a foot or two away from the gap where the box was from.
Having been keeping an ear out for when the team realised his return and came to find him, most likely Jack or Toshiko, he knew no one was down here with him.
Focusing his abilities like Dexter had taught him he balanced the box on one hand moving so he was balanced precariously with one foot on the ladder he leant over and slipped the box into its position with ease.
"If anyone ever sees you do that, they're gonna start asking questions," Came an amused voice and Ianto jumped in fright loosing his footing he began to fall.
With little effort he twisted quickly in mid air and landed gracefully on his feet, thanking the fact that his suit hadn't restricted him or torn from the unnatural movement.
"I was keeping an ear out for anyone, though I didn't hear you come in Sir," Ianto replied straightening his suit before looking up to meet Jack's eyes, the silver in his fading as he let go of his abilities and they faded to their natural colour.
"I had years to practice sneaking up on Pirask hearing. God did you know how sexy you look with your silver eyes?" Jack asked leaning casually against the shelving.
"That's harassment Sir," Ianto says a small smile sneaking through,
"Well I don't know about you but I'm starving, how about a good old team lunch, we all missed you round here," Jack grinned
"Missed me so much that it took you twenty minutes since you returned to even realise I was back," Ianto replied
"Actually it took me that long to get the others off my back and go through the CCTV to find you, I smelt your coffee the moment I stepped in the door," Jack grinned
"Of course, it had to be the coffee. I suppose I should order lunch then sir," Ianto rolled his eyes.
"I already have Yan, We can all catch up... or not... I told them you were doing admin work for UNIT in London, comparing case notes, that sort of thing," Jack shrugged
"That was the best story you could come up with Sir?" Ianto teased
Jack just shrugged again grinning, completely enjoying the banter with Ianto. They'd gotten close and developed a good friendship over the last month, due to Ianto's turn and talking to each other everyday, being completely honest about things.
Ianto mock sighed, "Well I guess I'll have to work with what I'm given then won't I,"
Jack laughed, "It's good to have you back Yan,"
"It's good to be back sir, though I have a bone to pick with whoever's been down here in my archives, not to mention who broke my coffee maker."
"Don't look at me, well maybe some of the archives was me but I stayed well away from the coffee machine," Jack replied holding his hands up in front of him in mock surrender,
"Of course you did sir," Ianto smirked heading for the stairs that would lead them up to the main hub.
Jack took a few minutes to watch Ianto walk away, the new confidence was easy to note in his step, he also had a bit more slink and grace that Jack was finding incredibly enticing.
Things were definitely going to be interesting, there's no way the team were going to miss the changes in Ianto.
He couldn't believe it.
As soon as Ianto got to the Hub his whole posture and attitude changed back to what it had been before the Countryside incident, as if he was still trying to make up for what happened with Lisa.
Something he had forgiven Ianto for after he stayed to talk and keep him company when he lost Estelle and the others refused to speak to him for letting Jasmine go.
The others, he was pretty sure, had forgiven him after what happened in the countryside based on what he heard during Ianto's absence.
He sighed as Ianto quietly greeted Toshiko and Gwen, getting a nod from Owen before he offered to get them anything.
This was going to be interesting.
He was already used to the relaxed Ianto, he wasn't sure if he could keep up the pretence that everything was the same as before, as Ianto obviously intended to do.
But if Ianto did't want the others to known he wasn't going to be the one to tell them.
Jack walked up behind where Ianto was leaning on the railing on the third level watching the others in the hub below.
"You're avoiding me?" He said leaning on the rail beside the other man,
"What?" Ianto asked confusion clouding his eyes as he turned his head to look at Jack.
"You've been back a couple of days now and you're avoiding me, leaving work the same time as the others, spending all your time in the archives unless I ask you to help with something up here,"
"I'm not avoiding you," Ianto replied
"If I've done something to... upset you... I didn't mean to," Jack said quietly, so quietly that had it not been for Ianto's now enhanced hearing he would have missed it.
Ianto's heart melted at the apology, even though there was nothing to apologise for, the fact that Jack had without any prompting stired something in Ianto that he still wasn't ready to face or admit to yet.
"Sir," Ianto said turning to face him fully, "I've been away for a just over a month. The archives are a mess and I've had to go home on time, to sort out my apartment and family. My landlord was about to have the locks changed and evict me since I'd missed two payments and disappeared without word or a trace. Also I had to get my electricity, gas, phone and water put back on." Ianto explained
"I guess I should have looked after that for you while you were away, but it just never occured to me," Jack muttered feeling guilty and slightly stupid.
"My turning and need to be trained wasn't exactly planned, besides I never thought of it either or I'd have asked you to do it," Ianto replied turning his attention back to the hub below a small frown on his face.
"What's the matter?" Jack asked,
"I'm not sure," Ianto replied and Jack watched in fascination as Ianto's eyes turned silver. Jack stayed quiet, watching Ianto and trying to squash down the feelings of want, something was obviously bothering Ianto and it really wasn't the time for him to start hitting on the man.
"Ianto?" Jack asked making sure to keep his voice low so not to cause Ianto any pain in case he'd enhanced his hearing.
"I..." Ianto began then paused tipping his head to one side as if hearing something in a different direction, "An audio request just came in through the computer in your office... which you left running again by the way. Henderson wishes to meet with you, he'll meet you on the Plass in the usual place, no doubt he has some information for you on a weird case of his," Ianto said eyes returning to normal as he turned to face Jack.
"Come with me, Henderson won't mind and you can tell me what's bothering you," Jack said and without waiting for an answer headed towards the stairs that would take them back to the main floor of the hub.
"I found a photo while I was with Dexter and Arabella, she told me I should ask you about it and Dexter just walked away," Ianto said as the pair stood leaning on the railings around the basin waiting for Henderson with take-away cups of coffee.
"What was the photo of?" Jack asked taking a sip of his coffee,
"Yours and Arabella's wedding photo," Ianto said and Jack promptly choked on his drink, causing Ianto to smirk in satisfaction at his timing. He found it oddly amusing watching the normaly unflappable Captian's composure slip, even if it was only for a minute.
"Oh yeah that's kind of how I fit in to it," Jack replied once he had his breath back
"You could have told me when I asked sir,"
Jack sighed gathering his thoughts as he got ready to explain it all to Ianto
"Arabella and I met while I was a soldier and using a different name for a short time, it was looked down upon because of her colour but I didn't care, I courted her and married her. We were married 5 years, then I was killed in an accident when my plane came down. Wasn't like could just turn up home again when I'd already been reported dead. Thirty years later by pure chance we ran into each other both looking like we hadn't aged a day, the three of us have been close friends ever since."
"It explains a few things, thankyou for telling me," Ianto replied with a smile,
Jack raised an amused eyebrow, "That's not what was bothering you though," Jack prompted,
Ianto sighed thinking about what he'd been seeing and hearing around the hub since his return.
"I think something's wrong with Tosh,"