The Doctor and Jack spent the first day stalking Ianto as he went shopping, following at a distance, but making sure they were never seen. It was dull, boring and the Doctor only put up with it because he owed this to Jack.

That's what it was like for the next few weeks. They followed Ianto to his new flat and kept an eye on him for the next month, making sure he didn't emigrate to Australia or try to kill himself. Though, the Doctor pointed out under his breath, if Ianto did try to kill himself they wouldn't be able to stop him.

But Ianto seemed intent on staying put. When he got his new job, the Doctor and Jack followed him to the pristine office. The Doctor had made Jack stop in the TARDIS after the first time Ianto had been flirting with a colleague. Jack had almost stormed in and blown their cover and the Doctor decided the other man was better off not knowing that the love of his life was moving on.

So it went on, Jack counting down the days until he could actually appear to Ianto, the Doctor counting down the days he could travel in time and space again. When it got to the last week of waiting and watching though, Jack started to get cold feet. Not because he didn't want to see Ianto, but because the Welshman appeared to be happy in his new life and Jack didn't want to ruin it for him.

But as the Doctor pointed out, he'd waited all this time; he might as well ask Ianto what he wanted. After all, he must've known that Jack would work out his plan, so Ianto would be expecting them.

The deep feeling that he might be rejected lay at the back of Jack's mind right up to the day they could finally go and see him. The Doctor made Jack wait until after the previous them had disappeared from the Hub and back in time three months, just to be on the safe side. He didn't want to have another episode of running into himself.

At five o' clock that evening they made their way up to the flat and knocked. For a moment there was no answer, but then they heard someone shuffling down the corridor and open the door.

"Hello Jack." Ianto said calmly as if he had known they were coming.

"Hi," Jack said sheepishly. "Can we come in?"

"Yeah," Ianto pulled the door open further so they could step inside.

Jack wandered in awkwardly, the Doctor striding behind him, glancing about. Well Ianto was certainly clean for a human. The Doctor liked him already.

"Do you want a cup of coffee?" Ianto asked.

"Yeah thanks," Jack said. The Doctor declined and followed Jack into the kitchen after Ianto.

"I've come to explain," Jack began.

"Yeah, I'm sure you have," Ianto replied a little more coldly than he intended to.

The Doctor, whose fingers were currently deep inside a jar of marmalade, froze. Evidently he wasn't supposed to be present for this argument so he took the jar into the living room leaving them in private.

"Look, I'm sorry," Jack said quietly. "I never meant to be away that long. I was with… well I was with the Doctor, the guy in there-"

"I know who he is," Ianto snapped turning to glare at Jack. "And I know he's more important than me."

"No, he's not," Jack stated calmly. "I just had some unfinished business. I tried to be back before you woke up, but for some reason he got the time mixed up and we arrived four months late. To find you dead."

"Should've tried harder shouldn't you," Ianto growled. "I thought I meant something to you, but I can't have if you were willing to go off gallivanting mere minutes after I collapsed. For all you knew I could've died!"

"But you didn't," Jack sighed. "I'm sorry; I honestly didn't mean to leave you in the lurch. If I'd known how long I was going to be gone, I'd have waited for you to wake up and took you with me-"

"I wouldn't have wanted you to take me with you," Ianto cut across. "It's not exactly a good idea taking me to meet your ex is it?"

"He's not…" Jack rubbed a hand across his face. Whatever way he explained his relationship with the Doctor it was going to sound bad.

"I don't care," Ianto shrugged finally. "It's none of my business now."

He handed a cup of coffee to Jack.

"Tell the team I'm alive if you want, reverse the RetCon, but I'm not coming be to work," Ianto continued. "I've got a new life now so…"

He trailed off unsure as to why he was explaining himself to Jack.

"Right…" Jack nodded. "Ok…"

They stood for a moment, looking anywhere but at each other.

"Look, I don't know what you came here for Jack," Ianto said. "But I don't want to know. I've moved on and that's final. I don't need all the grief of going back to Torchwood. I've got a spare RetCon pill; I'll take it if you want."

"No," Jack shook his head. "After all we've been through together, I more than trust you not to breathe a word to anyone."

"Just promise me you won't come looking for me again," Ianto sighed.

Jack looked up; trying desperately to think of a reason he should continue to visit Ianto. But he couldn't find anything. Just as he opened his mouth though the Doctor called out.

"Hey," he said. "You might want to see this."

Jack and Ianto wandered into the living room to find the Doctor sat on the sofa watching the news on the T.V., open marmalade jar on the coffee table.

"Reports of strange beings being sighted within the house have been coming to us all day," the woman on the T.V. said, stood outside the same haunted house the Doctor had seen all those months ago in the chip shop.

"It appears that there is some kind of conspiracy going on," she seemed oblivious to how unbelievably stupid she sounded. Admitting there were aliens in the house would've been better. "There are now exactly a hundred reported cases of children wandering into the house and never coming back out. Though we still don't know the whereabouts of these kids, it is thought that whoever is abducting them is trying to keep attention on the house."

The Doctor glanced from Jack to Ianto and back again. They both looked confused and slightly anxious. Evidently they were used to seeing this kind of thing and suspecting the worst.

"I think we've got a mystery to solve," the Doctor grinned in his best Fred-from-Scooby-Doo impression.