CHAPTER THREE: A Knight In Suit & Tie

"Look, I'm sorry Ianto, but I'm going to have to leave you," announced Jack, getting up from behind his desk and pulling on his great coat.

He gave the accountant an apologetic smile, which the young Welshman batted away, replying gently, "Don't worry about it. I think we were about finished anyway."

Nodding, Jack looked out into the main office, seeing both John and Mickey had left for home, leaving only Martha. Offering his hand to Ianto, Jack said, "Well, thanks for sorting out our horrendously bad paperwork. I'll try to make sure it's not that bad next time you visit."

Ianto grinned and shook Jack's hand, replying, "I look forward to it."

"Yeah?" muttered Jack before he could stop himself. "I mean, yeah- see you then."

Chuckling, Ianto let go of the captain's hand and started flicking through one of the last files. Jack quickly left the office and walked over to where Martha stood making coffee for herself.

He stood behind her and whispered in her ear, "Do you reckon you could stay until Ianto leaves?"

If it had been anyone else, they would have jumped a foot in the air at the sudden voice, probably resulting in both themselves and Jack receiving third degree burns, however Martha just smiled and turned around to face her employer and close friend, replying, "Sure. Where you off to?"

"Got to try and track down that Scott Hopkins guy."

"Again?"

Jack pulled a face before replying in a dramatically pained voice, "Again."

Martha smiled reassuringly and patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get him this time."

Jack grinned back, before sauntering towards the door and calling over his shoulder, "And we may finally get paid."

"Possibly," laughed Martha, turning back to the coffee machine as the door closed behind Jack.

----- TW -----

"Why does this always happen when I do these things by myself?" grumbled Jack, as he almost toppled over a group of high school students walking in the opposite direction.

Calling an apology over his shoulder, Jack continued rushing through the crowded streets of town, trying not to lose sight of his mark up ahead.

Jack and John had been trying to track down Scott Hopkins for the police for almost a month, and the man had slipped through their fingers every single time they came close to catching him.

To say that this had bruised the two captain's egos, would be a gross understatement. He was a couple of infuriating meters away from Jack, and the only thing that was in his way of finally catching the man, was the continuous flow of people walking in the opposite direction, determined to get to their homes.

"If someone could stop him I would appreciate it!" yelled Jack as he pushed passed several businessmen, almost tripping over one.

As expected, no one made a move to help.

Jack was starting to think that it was about time he gave up. Maybe if he paid Martha off, she wouldn't tell John he had screwed up the case again. But then, his chances of catching Hopkins suddenly drastically increased. Obviously hoping to lose Jack, the man darted out of the crowd, and ran into a narrow alley. Grinning widely, Jack chased after him.

Jack's grin widened when he saw the alley had been blocked off, and now the only thing standing between Hopkins and escape was him.

"You know, you're a difficult man to track down," stated Jack, taking a step towards the man.

Jack sized Hopkins up as he got glared at. He looked around 30 but was rather muscular, and Jack thought he could smell alcohol on him. 'Shouldn't be much of a problem,' decided Jack.

"I didn't do anything!" yelled Hopkins, his words slurring together. 'Yep, drunk'.

The wide grin on Jack's face dulled a little, before he replied in a serious voice, "That's not what I've been told."

For a moment, the two of them attempted to stare down the other, before Jack sighed, and started, "Look, they're only minor charges, with a good lawyer you should get- wow!"

Hopkins gave no warning before he charged, and Jack didn't really notice what was happening until he heard him scramble back to his feet and start to run off. Thinking fast, Jack rolled over and kicked out at the fleeing man's legs, huffing with satisfaction as he watched him collapse back to the ground.

Deciding that Hopkins didn't look like he was going to be moving anytime soon, Jack fished his mobile out of his pocket, and called his contact at the police. However when he requested that a couple of PCs meet him in the alley, he didn't really think out too well, how he was going to word it.

"No I don't want to do that with them, just send some PCs to the bloody alley!" cried Jack as he watched Hopkins slowly stagger back to his feet. Scrambling to his own, Jack yelled, "Quickly," down the line, before hanging up, and tackling him to the ground.

Unfortunately for Jack, the man was not as injured as he had suspected, and was ready to fight. As soon as they hit the ground, Jack was met with an onslaught of alcohol and adrenaline fuelled violence, which resulted in him lying flat on his back – considerably more winded and sore than he had been before entering the alley.

Jack heard Hopkins getting to his feet again, and quite frankly, he could not care less any more. The captain was quite content with just lying there on the floor of the alley for a couple of minutes, feeling sorry for himself and coming up with the story he would tell John the next day, when a loud thud brought him out of his daze.

He froze when he heard the sound of footsteps, coming his way. With a painful groan, he pulled his arms up to shield his face from blows, figuring that it was Hopkins coming back for a second go. So he was surprised when the instead of getting booted in the side like he expected, a gentle hand rested on his shoulder, and a familiar voice started to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about.

Frowning in confusion, he slowly peeked out from behind his arms, to find none other than Ianto Jones sitting next to him, looking down with a concerned expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, gently taking the hand that rested on the younger man's lap, wincing in sympathy as he noticed it was quickly beginning to redden. "You alright?"

"Just the questions I was going to ask you," commented Ianto, his shoulders sagging slightly in relief. "Can you get up."

Still holding onto Ianto's hurt hand, Jack patted up and down his body with the other, wincing slightly as he hit a couple sore spots on his chest and stomach, before looking up at the young Welshman and replying, "Finishing off a job for the police, yes to the second and yes to the third."

Ianto frowned in confusion, until he realized the Jack was answering his questions. Grinning widely, he stood up himself, before offering his good hand to Jack, and pulling the captain to his feet.

"You knocked him out?" asked Jack, giving Ianto an impressed look, before turning back to Scott Hopkins, who was lying just short of the mouth of the alley.

"Not really," replied Ianto, pulling Jack's arm around his shoulders and supporting the older man's weight as they limped closer. "I just punched him, and he fell against the wall and knocked himself out."

"Is that the truthful or official story?" asked Jack, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

Unfortunately they were interrupted before Ianto could answer, by two PCs running into the alley.

"Your timing is terrible," commented Jack, removing his arm from around Ianto's shoulders, and forcing his body to stand on its own.

"What happened to you then?" sniggered one of the PCs, smirking as he pointed at Jack's, rapidly bruising, face.

Jack glared at the both of them, and snapped, "Just do your job and take him before he wakes up."

Rolling their eyes, the PCs handcuffed Hopkins before taking him to the station, calling, "Go see the Sergeant bout being paid."

Jack sighed in relief as they left, and sagged a little against the wall.

"Thanks for the help."

Ianto gave him a small smile, and replied, "Not a problem," before looking closer at Jack and muttering with concern, "Those look pretty bad."

Jack laughed, saying lightly, "Don't worry, they're just bruises." However, when he went to take a step out of the alley, he stumbled a little, resulting in Ianto throwing an arm around his shoulders and guiding him out.

"Where did you park your car?" he asked.

Smirking, Jack replied, "That's a little forward isn't it Mr. Jones?"

Ianto gave him a look that said quite clearly, he was not messing around, and Jack sighed. "Should be up the road."

"Alright, I'll drive you home," announced Ianto. "It's not the best idea for you to drive if you can't even walk by yourself."

Jack grumbled as he couldn't find any way to argue with the Welshman's logic, and allowed himself to be lead back to his own car.

"What about yours?" he asked as he sat down in the passenger's seat.

Ianto only shrugged and replied, "It's being serviced, I was going to catch the train home."

"Oh, okay."

It took the two of them about 15 minutes to find their way back to Jack's apartment. Jack spent most of the time explaining how he just knew where his apartment was, not exactly how to get to it from a passenger's perspective, which Ianto found rather funny.

However they finally managed it, and a couple of minutes later, Jack was unlocking the door and asking Ianto inside. By this time he had regained the ability of walking in a straight line, but the bruises adorning his body were starting to really sting.

And apparently they looked just as bad as they felt. Illustrated by Gwen, who came into the room talking on her mobile, only to gasp and drop it to the ground.

"Hey, that's an expensive phone!" cried Jack.

Gwen quickly picked up the small device again, and said, "I'll call you back Rhys," before running over to her dad.

"What happened?" she asked, looking at both Jack and Ianto.

"Had a little trouble catching a guy for the police, nothing to worry about."

"Doesn't look like that from here,"she bit back, pointing at his face.

"You know some people find battle wounds very attractive," argued Jack, crossing his arms over his chest, only to wince when he hit a tender spot and ruin the whole effect.

"And some people find that acting like you're fine when you're not is incredibly stupid."

"I'm inclined to agree," chipped in Ianto, still looking at Jack with concern.

"Aren't you supposed to be picking up Owen about now?" asked Jack, feeling slightly put out at being ganged up on.

Gwen checked her watch, then gazed up at Jack, looking torn between which responsibility took higher precedence: looking after her brother or looking after her dad.

Seeing this, Ianto offered uncertainly, "I could- pick up Owen with Tosh if you want, and drop him back here."

Before Jack could get a word in, Gwen had answered, "Oh would you? That would be great. Thank you so much."

Smiling again, Ianto took the keys Gwen offered him, and replied, "Not a problem, I'll be back in a bit."

As the door closed behind him, Jack turned to Gwen and asked, "How do we know that we'll ever see that car again?"

"Oh don't be so cynical. There is such a thing as a good people you know dad," replied Gwen, walking into the kitchen to get the first aid kit.

"So what happened really?" she asked, as she began to dab at a small cut above Jack's eyebrow.

Jack explained how he had ended up in a fist fight with Scott Hopkins, and how Ianto had come in out of the blue and stopped him from getting away long enough for the police to arrive, and then insisted on driving him home.

By the end of the story, Gwen was grinning ear to ear.

Jack eyed her wearily, and asked, "What?"

"Your knight in shining armor."

"Oh god Gwen," sighed Jack, pressing his hands to his face, enduring the pain that touching the bruises there caused.

"What, it's romantic," grinned Gwen, sitting down in the recliner opposite her father. "You should ask him out to dinner."

"Gwen, I have known him for two days."

"That's beside the point."

"I said no relationships, and he probably feels the same way," hissed Jack.

"Well you don't know till you try," argued Gwen, using his own philosophy against him for the second time in as many days.

Leaning back in his chair, Jack looked at Gwen and said in a stern voice, "No, and that is final."

----- TW -----

If there are any parents or generally responcible people out there, I know that the likelyhood of a parent letting a man they have known for two days, take their car and pick up there son is pretty much nonexistent, And I'm afraid I can't really come up with a resonable excuse as to whhy it's alright here, so please don't shoot me.

And if you hadn't noticed that until I pointed it out... um, try and forget that paragraph above. Yep there, see it? Read it? Good, now forget it.
;) much appreciated.

Thanks for all the lovelly reviews and please keep them coming, it's surprising how uplifting they are isn't it. :D