Chapter 8=

VWORP! VWORP! The sound of the Tardis' engines echoed around the mostly deserted area and Jack hurried outside with Zaphira and Gray following behind, all of them feeling a sense of déjà vu as they remembered the events that happened just a couple of days ago.

"What in the name of the Goddess is that thing?" Zaphira asked as she spotted a small wooden blue box with yellow windows, "And what are those scribble things all over it?" she was, of course, referring to the writing on the signs as the English language had become much like Latin today some 300 years earlier.

"It's the Tardis," Jack replied, looking the happiest he had done since Ianto had died, "and one of the most amazing people in the universe travels in it."

The door opened with its usual squeak and out popped a tall lanky man in a suit with a bow tie and a mop of messy brown hair. "Doctor," Jack questioned, "did you regenerate?"

"Yep!" the time lord replied cheerfully, "What do you think of the bow tie? I wear a bow tie now, bow ties are cool."

Gray tapped Jack on the shoulder and the elder turned to look at him, "You said he was possibly the cleverest man ever and yet he thinks bow ties are cool." He said bluntly and Jack laughed.

"Oi! I'll have you know, bow ties are very cool!" the Doctor protested, "and Jack, I have a gift for you. Come inside, bring those two and all."

Jack beckoned his reluctant relatives and chuckled slightly as they exclaimed at the inside that was at odds with the outside. A woman with frizzy blonde hair was standing at the console and grinned when she saw Jack. "Jack, meet my wife, River Song."

"You got married then?"

"Yep! Isn't she great?"

"Hold on, she lets you out dressed like that?!"

River let out a weary sigh, "If I protest he goes into such a strop sweetie, you know?"

"I know," Jack told her, "I was travelling with his previous regeneration just recently and the other companion, Martha, suggested that he might 'have a change of routine' and 'wear something a little different' and he sulked in his room for two days!"

"This one sulked for a week minimum." River grinned.

"Yes, yes, now you've finished insulting me, Jack the Tardis will show you where to go while I show Gray and Zaphira around. And yes, I promise not to accidentally take us somewhere, now go."

~0~

Jack stopped at the door that the Tardis waved open, in here? He asked her telepathically and got a mental nod in return, thanks honey he told her gratefully.

He entered the room and then reeled back slightly, that smell, it couldn't be… "Ianto!" Jack shouted out happily as the Welshman he had loved and lost exited the bathroom and stayed in the doorway staring at him. "How…?" Jack asked. Ianto simply threw himself into the immortal man's arms and held him tight.

"Ianto, Ianto, Ianto" Jack whispered as he clung back just as tight with a desperate need, over 10 years, slept with no one since, locked up his heart and saved it for a Welshman who wore suits.

"I'm back," Ianto whispered softly, pressing a kiss to his neck, "I'm back I promise."

"How though? The Doctor said no one could come back from the dead so why did he do it?"

"He said something about… nanomemes? Something about denim trousers or what have you, I just woke up here and he told me that I'd been dead for a couple of hours but for you it was over a decade and that he was taking me home. God, Jack I love you so much."

"I love you," Jack told him, mind racing as he processed what Ianto had told him, nanomemes, and denim trousers… nanogenes! Jack remembered world war two at the heart of the blitz and a man with a northern accent that wore a leather jacket and a girl in a union jack shirt and a soldier called Algy who had found a place in Jack's heart and was turned into a zombie… "I know what he did," Jack told Ianto, burying his nose into the soft hair, "and he is brilliant."

"I know," Ianto breathed, "And so are you. I love you so much cariad."

"I love you too." Jack breathed softly, "I'm going to tell you that every day, every wonderful, brilliant day we have together I'm going to tell you I love you Ianto Jones."

"I already knew." Ianto smiled softly and pulled the elder man down into a kiss.

THE END!