Although I am sort of erasing out most of the references to my other story 'Innocence' to make this story a little more independant there are still some mentions of it. Plus for those that don't know Brad the cat is a rescue cat from Torchwood 1.

Owen didn't look up as he heard the door. He expected Toshiko, who had been dropped off to get changed, and then she was coming back the hub to finish off her work on the machine that had altered Ianto.

"That's only an hour. Are you being lazy or can you not bear to be away from me?" Owen asked without looking round.

"Lazy, most definitely," Jack said. Owen spun round and glared at him.

"I thought you were…"

Owen paused and looked down at Ianto. He had obviously reacquired Barney from the dashboard of the SUV, where he had been sitting for his day out. Ianto now had an arm curled around the teddy's torso. He pulled on Jack's hand and Jack let him go. Ianto ran off pausing as the pterodactyl flew threw the air. He ran after her a little, his eyes trained upwards.

"Watch where you are going!" Jack warned him as he ran around. Ianto paused and instead stood still and stared up.

"What?" Jack asked Owen.

Owen closed his eyes, his face and waved a hand to dismiss what he had said. "Doesn't matter? Are you…?"

"I'm just going to pick up the information to calibrate the machine. I need to pack a bag for Ianto, can you download everything into one of the laptops while I pack for him. I'll use his flat, he might settle in the home fittings and nothings going to jump out an attack him there."

"Okay. She needs feeding," Owen said as the dinosaur flew over them again. "I'll do her in a minute and the rest of the rounds."

"Thanks, I know I normally do the afternoon, or night, stuff but…"

"It's fine," Owen said. He glanced at Ianto, who was watching the pterodactyl and seemed to be trying to protect Barney. "How did Rhys get on with him?"

"Pretty good actually."

"On the same mental level no doubt," Owen sniped. Jack glared.

"Oi, leave him alone. He'd make a good dad."

"Are you an expert after one day? Or are you just getting fond of Gwen's husband?"

Jack grinned broadly and Owen rolled his eyes.

"Is there anyone you don't want to shag?"

"You've got to have a hobby."

Owen raised his eyebrows, and Jack looked to his left suddenly very conscious that Ianto had stopped watching the pterodactyl's flight and was staring at them. He was lingering in the door of Jack's office, somewhere that he seemed to view with a level of sanctuary. Considering sometimes what had gone on in there, Jack was amazed by that. It worried him a little. Owen seemed to feel something similar as he watched Ianto for a few seconds before turning to Jack.

"I'll get the laptop ready. You sort the zapped employee."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack had packed everything he thought Ianto would need, and a few other things. Jack guessed he would probably need to bath him, and Ianto needed pyjamas, plus a change of clothes for the morning. And there was the plastic utensils that the girls had bought, and he put a few other things from the monstrous bags of shopping into the pile of what he needed. As he did so, he realised that a good portion of it had all been used. Most of it in fact.

If Gwen had dictated the shopping then she had been almost perfect, with a little overspill. And the weird thing was, every thing that she had picked, clothing wise, fitted almost perfectly. Nothing could be entirely fitted but Ianto was comfortable, and hadn't complained. Jack stuffed the trainers that they had bought on top and zipped the bag closed. The convenient carry bag that they had also bought.

Toshiko had chosen it apparently, with an eye to using it to carry tech stuff, debris, dangerous items and it could handle liquids. Into the bargain, it also looked highly innocuous.

Ianto sat in the chair, at the desk, watching him carefully while scrawling on a piece of paper. Barney had flopped on the desk next to him, lying flat on his back as usual. Jack stood up and tested the weight of the bag. Ianto watched him, still scrawling.

"What are you doodling there?" Jack asked, he peered over at the scrawling and then came round the desk. It was a slight stretch and Jack could have been reading too much into it but there was a clear enough 'J' on the sheet of paper for Jack to be able to make out his name.

"What's that you've written?" Jack moved behind him, Ianto looked up and reached for Barney, shyly burying his face into his fur.

"I like Jack," Ianto said. Jack smiled at him and ran his fingers through Ianto's hair.

"I like you, too."

He picked Ianto up out of the chair and settled him on his hip. It helped him avoid eye contact in what was something of an uncomfortable moment. Ianto had regulated that comment, hiding behind the teddy bear and his dark eyes spoke of something more than childlike adoration. Jack didn't want to comment further. He didn't want to say anything else, and he didn't want Ianto blurting out something that might end up regretted later.

"Aaawww, it's a Kodak moment," Owen said having appeared unnoticed in the office doorway, laptop under his arm. Ianto snuggled against Jack, hiding again. Jack felt his cheeks flush slightly and Owen smirked, holding out the laptop. Jack picked up the bag and slung it over the shoulder, being careful not to catch Ianto, or dislodge him in any way. Reaching out Jack took the laptop from him.

"So are you going to tell us about these calculations then?" Owen asked. Jack shook his head.

"If I try to explain them I think my brain would probably explode."

Owen smirked, "and we can't have you with a mushy brain now can we."

Ianto giggled into Jack's shoulder.

"Don't you encourage him," Jack warned Ianto, kissing him on the top of his head. Then he looked at Owen. "I'll bring them back and try and talk you through them once I've worked it out."

Owen shrugged. "I'll wait for Tosh to get back and we'll double check that we are charging up the machine right. We don't want to over zap him."

"Good, we have some test subjects don't we."

"Rats of various ages and a rabbit. We could use Janet or the Hoix but we don't know how old they are so…"

"I'd be loathe to use them anyway, it seems a bit unethical."

"But aging rats is fine?"

"Yes," Jack said. "If we need to test it on something else then we will do. This is risky."

Owen looked at Ianto. "Yes."

"Right, I'm taking him home, I should be able to work out the calculation overnight and I'll be in tomorrow depending on when Ianto wakes up. I'll leave him to sleep if he sleeps in a little."

"Fine, no worries." Owen looked at Ianto and patted his head. "Drive him crazy for me."

Ianto grinned at him.

"And don't you encourage him!" Jack said to Owen. "You ignore Evil Lord Owen."

Ianto flung out the hand holding Barney and batted Owen on the shoulder. Owen grinned, quite pleased with himself.

"Have fun," he said to Jack. Jack stuck his tongue out at him, hitched Ianto higher on his hip and made a quick exit.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Toshiko had found a cushion from somewhere to use in the SUV. Jack got Ianto in the back and settled him on the cushion, putting the seatbelt around him carefully. Ianto kept looking around excitedly. Jack knew he liked the SUV anyway, as a child he was positively enraptured with it.

Jack made sure the seatbelt was secure around him and then stepped back and shut the door carefully before going round the back and getting in the driver's side. He had put Ianto diagonal to him so he could keep an eye on him over his shoulder. He turned around and smiled at him, Ianto thrust Barney at him.

Jack took him and placed Barney back on the dashboard where he had sat throughout the drive today. He wedged the toy against the windshield so he couldn't do his drunken flop and put him so Ianto could still see him. Ianto grinned in delight.

"You all right there?"

"Yep," Ianto said. Jack gunned the engine and set off. As he drove he kept an eye on Ianto behind him. Ianto in turn kept glancing at Jack but most of his attention was fixed on the city around them as they passed through the streets. Ianto gazed at everything as if he had never seen any of it before in his life.

Or he was simply taking everything in from the new perspective. Everything was so much bigger. Jack drove to the quiet little street where Ianto's flat was and pulled into the car park at the back of the building, taking Ianto's parking space. The SUV did look pretty conspicuous but most of the residents were used to Jack turning up. He glanced behind him as he parked. He hoped he wouldn't run into any of them. Him turning up with a child in tow was going to be hard to explain.

Still, making up tall stories was one of Jack's specialities, although far too many of them had a strong ring of truth. He would just have to improvise if it came to it.

"Come on then," Jack said. He got out and went around the other side to release Ianto.

"Don't forget Barney!" Ianto said as Jack put him down.

"I won't. Let me get the bag first."

He ended up employing Rhys's method of keeping Ianto contained by holding onto the hood of his jacket while he extracted the bag and laptop from the back and then went to get Barney. He gave him to Ianto and guided Ianto in still keeping hold of his hood. Ianto's flat was on the first floor so it took them a while to negotiate the stairs, but again Jack kept him balanced by the grip he had on him.

As they reached the top Ianto trotted happily down the corridor and paused outside his door. He frowned in confusion as he looked at it, like he remembered where he was but couldn't quite work it out in his now infant mind. Jack decided that breezing over the fact was probably the best thing, so he just behaved as if everything was perfectly normal.

He fiddled with the keys and unlocked the door, guiding Ianto in. He was about to close it, breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't encountered anyone when there was the sound of a door opening.

"Mr Harkness!"

Jack winced inwardly at Mrs Reynolds' voice. Ianto's elderly, and rather formidable, next door neighbour. Ianto paused in the hallway of the flat, looking around.

"Hi, Mrs Reynolds," Jack said plastering a bright grin onto his face. He turned to her. She looked him up and down and then peered around the door at Ianto.

"I saw you in the car park, Ianto not with you?"

If you saw me in the car park, Jack thought, then you will assume he's not with me because you didn't see him.

"No," he said politely as the voiceover went on in his mind – strangely enough in Ianto's flat sardonic voice. "He's away for a couple of days, but he said I could use the flat for convenience sake. I'm babysitting."

He watched Mrs Reynolds assess Ianto. Ianto paid no attention; he was distracted by Brad, the cat, who sauntered out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Ianto cooed in delight and tucking Barney tighter under his arm went to investigate. As he approached Brad hissed at him, arching his back. Ianto visibly paused.

"I really don't think you want him near that cat," Mrs Reynolds said. "I fed him anyway, that's what I came to tell you. I didn't see Ianto this morning, I presume he wasn't home last night." There was a slight accusing tone in her voice. She knew Jack was Ianto's boss and didn't approve of the hours that Ianto seemed to keep, or the company.

Jack kept his eyes fixed on Ianto and Brad. Despite the risk of Brad attacking him, he was rather curious to see what he would make of little Ianto.

"No, no, like I said, Ianto's away, I'm just babysitting my… nephew…" It was the first thing that came into Jack's head. It'll do, Jack thought to himself.

Mrs Reynolds looked ready to say something else but she paused as Brad assessed Ianto with his cool green eyes, sniffed the air and carefully padded forward. He brushed against Ianto's legs, arching his back and twitching his tail in delight. As he went past Ianto he turned elegantly on his paws and brushed against him again, tail still up and his back curved.

"Goodness," Mrs Reynolds said her train of thought forgotten. Jack winced as Ianto reached down to touch Brad's back. Brad however just purred and slowly flopped down, his back legs dropped first and his spine and shoulders following in a perfect ripple.

Ianto sat down next to him and petted his head. Brad stretched up to sniff him, clearly aware that Ianto was Ianto.

"I've never seen him react to anyone like that, except Ianto."

"Maybe it's just us grown-ups he doesn't like," Jack said, now very desperate to get rid of her. He turned around to concentrate on her and flashed his most charming smile. She didn't look very impressed.

"Ianto should be back within the next day or so."

"It's just he owes me for the cat food, with my pension I can't afford to keep…"

"Oh… right… yes…" Jack rummaged around in the inside pocket of his coat. "He did mention that to me. He told me to give you this."

Jack yanked out his wallet and pulled out two twenty pound notes. It was probably way more than she needed but he wanted shot of her. His gaze flickered back to Ianto. He was running his hand down Brad's back and Brad seemed fine with it. But Jack didn't trust Brad one inch. He was a devious little bastard.

"Oh, it's not as much as that!" she sounded shocked, but pleased.

"No, well it means that if it happens again then you don't need to worry, and Ianto does say that it's a really big help to him." Just go away you silly bitch, Jack's inner voice said, this time in his own American accent. She looked down at the money Jack put in her hand and then up at him. Jack smiled again, he glanced over, very significantly at Ianto, still touching Brad.

"I'd better go and sort him out, he's had a long afternoon." He backed up, almost hiding behind the door. But he kept smiling, Ianto liked to stay on good terms with his neighbours, particularly the one that came in and fed his cat. She looked up at him and nodded curtly.

"I'll tell Ianto, he'll probably come and see you when he gets back. Good afternoon Mrs Reynolds."

Jack didn't exactly shut the door in her face. She was backing off and walking away, the forty pounds clutched tightly in her hand. Jack could afford it, if it meant he kept things smooth for Ianto and kept the old lady out of his hair. He turned around and leant against the door breathing a sigh of relief. It hitched and he ran forward.

"Oh, no, no, no,"

Jack said as he grabbed Ianto around the waist, picked him up and pulled him away from Brad, just seconds before Ianto put his arms around Brad's torso to pull him onto his lap and hug him. Jack stood Ianto on his feet and crouching down turned Ianto to face him. Ianto looked confused and a little put out.

"You can't pick Brad up like to do Barney."

Ianto scowled. "Why not?"

"Because Brad…" Jack tailed of and sighed. He looked at Barney lying on the floor, discarded because of the cat. "Barney, is designed to be picked up and cuddled, Brad is… an animal. It's not what he's designed to do. He's a living, breathing thing…. He might not like it."

Jack glanced down at Brad, he was laid back, watching Jack and Ianto, his head slightly raised and his ears tilted back. He eyed both Jack and Ianto, an 'I dare you' look in his green eyes. Jack took a breath and looked back at Ianto.

"Just promise me, you won't try and pick up Brad. He won't like it, being a cat, cuddle Barney instead." Jack picked up Barney and handed him to Ianto, who took him reluctantly. He glanced at Brad, who had started to wash his paw, tugging on his claws as he did so.

"He might scratch you," Jack added. "He won't mean to, not really, but he might if you hurt him. You don't want to hurt him, do you?"

Very solemnly Ianto shook his head; Jack smiled and relaxed a little.

"Right, let's get you bathed and then we'll find something to eat."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Jack ran the bath, putting in a generous amount of the baby bath that Gwen and Toshiko had bought. He made sure the water wasn't too hot and then started to pull Ianto out of his clothes. Ianto let him, his eyes strayed to Brad, since the troublemaking cat was now following them around the flat.

Jack had put all the clothes in the bedroom, the plastic utensils in the kitchen and he now had the array of baby toiletries in the bathroom. He put Ianto in the bath and shrugged his braces off his shoulders and pulled off his shirt, rather convinced that he was about to get wet. Ianto pawed the bubbles a little and then looked at them carefully.

"Urgh!" he announced as he licked his hand. He screwed up his face and stuck his tongue out of his mouth.

"Well, that will teach you," Jack said. He grabbed Ianto tooth mug and ran some water into it. As Ianto spat Jack poured a small amount of mouthwash into the water and gave it to Ianto. He cupped the back of his head and held the glass to his mouth.

"Drink that."

Ianto drank a little and spat a little more. Jack made him drink a little more and screwed up his face and slapped his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He looked up at Jack with sorrowful eyes.

"Don't put things in your mouth then," Jack chided. He gave Ianto another little drink and his face smoothed out slightly. Blinking back the tears that had run into his eyes he looked up at Jack. Jack found the soft flannel, dampened it and put some of the baby wash, with calming lavender, onto it. Which Jack thought, when he finally got a shower, he'd use himself.

He gave Ianto a thorough washing. Ianto didn't sit still but since he was contained in a bath Jack had an easier time of it than yesterday when he tried to give him a quick wash. His clothes needed washing as well. Ianto had once shown him how to work the washing machine, but he wasn't quite sure he was up to it. Ianto had a second outfit anyway but Jack was starting to wonder if he might need to do some washing. They were getting somewhere with the calibrations, but not quickly. There were no risks which could be taken here.

It could easily be argued they took risks all the time, and if this had happened before Jack had taken charge of Torchwood, no one would have had any scruples about running experiments. However, Jack had no intention of allowing his Torchwood to go down that road. After some of the things that had happened to Ianto Jack owed him that much, and all the embarrassing moments, this time, had mostly been kept between the two of them.

Rhys, of course, had been swept up into a few of them. But Jack guessed that Ianto would find that less embarrassing than if it was Gwen or Toshiko. Owen perhaps he could cope with, if nothing else he was male, and in a way Owen would find it as embarrassing as Ianto did.

No, Jack thought, if he had to stay like this a little longer, then he had to. Jack could hope that he could work it out by tomorrow but he wasn't about to be cavalier about it.

He grabbed the shampoo and put it on the side and scooping up some water he wetted down Ianto's hair. Ianto grizzled a little as water dripped down his face. Jack smoothed his hair back and tilted his head back to drizzle a little shampoo on Ianto's hair.

Ianto splashed about in the water as Jack washed his hair. To remove the suds he dumped Ianto backwards in the water, carefully holding him and thinking that he really should have taken his tee-shirt off as well. However, he knew he had a clean set of clothes here. Ianto always provided for him, without comment, without any real need for anything back. It made Jack feel a little guilty at times, but he knew why Ianto did it.

Now, however, Jack was doing the looking after. Jack didn't mind such a thing. Every time he looked at Ianto now he just saw how vulnerable he was. If Jack analysed it closely enough, he knew that internally Ianto hid much of what he really felt. Now it seemed a little more obvious, and it made Jack wary of looking to hard.

Jack sat him up and ran his fingers through Ianto's hair, shaking off the excess water and making sure all the shampoo was cleared out and he cleaned all the excess suds off him. Ianto splashed the water happily as Jack ran some over Ianto's shoulders so shift the last of the body wash.

"Right, out you come," Jack said. As he lifted Ianto it occurred to him that he probably should have taken his tee shirt off as well. He was going to have to find a change of clothes but he didn't know where Ianto was up to with his laundry. He was going to have to look into it. Still for tonight he could use the tracksuit and tee-shirts that Ianto had bought for him, in the hope that somehow he'd relax a little, while he was here.

He did relax, but he'd either want to wear his own clothes, or be naked. He just didn't see the point of changing into something else in between those stages. It was nothing to do with some psychological defence. He just felt comfortable in his own clothes.

Still, his first priority was Ianto. He set him down on the bathmat and then reached for one of the large fluffy towels that hung on the rail. He opened it out and dropped it over Ianto's head. Ianto gave a yelp as it flopped down over him, covering his face. Jack lifted it to reveal Ianto's face and pushing it back he dried his hair a little first and then worked his way down. Ianto wriggled a little until Jack was forced to wrap the towel around him and pull Ianto onto his lap.

As Jack started to dry his feet off Ianto went into another round of giggling. He struggled against Jack but pinned on his lap and hampered by the towel there wasn't much he could do, especially since he was so tiny. At least when he had been grown-up he was in with a chance of fending Jack off. Now all he could do was squirm and giggle. Brad came to sit on the landing by the bathroom door. He sat down and glared at Jack before getting up again and sauntering off into Ianto's bedroom. Jack stopped tickling Ianto and let him settle on his lap. Ianto was gasping for breath. Jack cuddled him and kissed the top of his head. He now smelt very clean, but still babyish.

"You are so going to get me back for this when you get back to normal."

Ianto looked up at him as Jack tucked the towel around him. As he looked down just for one fraction of a second he thought he saw a glimmer of something. Not the bright innocence in Ianto's eyes but something deeper, darker, cradled down inside him. For a moment Jack was convinced he saw a flash of Ianto. Not just his grown-up self, but his darker side. Jack knew he had one, something ruthless about him. The flash was all he saw before it was cradled again within the innocent Ianto. The darkness sat curled up in the braver part of him. The one that survived, the one that controlled it, the one that was utterly Jack's.

"Still, until then." Jack grinned and flipped Ianto back dumping him on the bathmat and he went back to tickling his feet and his ribs. Ianto squealed and giggled. He kicked Jack several times as he tried to get his feet away but the power of them was almost ineffectual. After a couple of minutes Jack stopped. Ianto's chest heaved as he gasped for breath. He lay on his back on the bathmat his legs draped across Jack's. Jack smiled at him and reached down to pick him up, taking him around the waist. By sheer reflex Ianto gasped and giggled but Jack lifted him up and Ianto wrapped his arms around Jack's neck, pressing himself against him and clinging on. Jack hugged him back, feeling just how small he was and so utterly helpless.

"Come on, let's get you into your pyjamas."

Jack got him dressed easily. Ianto was too winded to put up much of a fight. He was wearing the 'sleepyosaurus' pyjamas again, in the blue that matched his eyes. Jack noticed that Gwen and Toshiko had bought an awful lot of blue clothes that matched, or contrasted with, his eyes. When had they been noticing Ianto's eyes, he wondered with a mild trace of jealousy.

He put Ianto down on the bed. Brad was curled up on the end, his head raised slightly as they came in and as Jack moved to the end of the bed Brad hissed at him.

"Go away, you don't scare me."

Ianto watched Brad with wide eyes, seeing his reaction to Jack. He reached for Barney, who had been put on the bed and Ianto pulled him onto his lap and watched Jack.

For the first time in what had to be a very long time, Jack suddenly developed an acute feeling of self-consciousness undressing and getting changed. In front of Ianto of all people, the person he was currently most familiar with. His eyes were fixed on Jack, watching him calmly, while he held onto Barney.

Jack looked away and opened the drawer that he knew housed the tracksuit bottoms and tee-shirt that Ianto had bought for him. Very swiftly he pulled off his wet tee-shirt, quickly dried the dampness off his skin with a hand towel and then pulled on the dark blue tee-shirt. Then he got his trousers off and swapped them for the tracksuit bottoms as quickly as he could.

He could have really done with having a shower, but he decided to wait until Ianto was firmly asleep before thinking about that. Jack didn't want to leave him to his own devices. He felt a little better when he was dressed again and he glanced at Ianto. He was still watching him, his face utterly calm, reassured by Jack's presence. The incident last night had frightened the life out of him, but somewhere deep down in his child's psyche he knew that Jack would be all right. Toshiko had given him the perfect translation of it, in a fairy story. Something his mind could deal with.

Jack owed her big time for that.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked him. Ianto nodded. He rested his chin on Barney's head squashing him. Jack gave a wicked grin. "Got your breath back?"

Ianto pulled his feet up and tucked them under his body as much as possible and put Barney on top. He gave Jack a highly suspicious look. Jack laughed.

"Okay, truce, I won't tickle you." Ianto's eyes narrowed slightly. "I promise."

Jack came around the bed and held out his arms. Ianto got up and clambered into them. Jack swung him up onto his hip.

"Hungry?"

Ianto nodded, "a bit."

"Well, while I look for something for us to eat, and attempt to put some washing in the machine you can watch some television, okay?"

Ianto nodded, put his head on Jack's shoulder murmuring contentedly as Jack carried him out of the room.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ianto, being as organised as he was, had a shelf in the kitchen which Jack knew he needed to aim for. It was put up just to the left of the utility room door. On it were the recipe books that he had bought and had been given to him and that he used when he had the time. Jack had often come round to find something cooked for him and he often worried about Ianto making such an effort.

"It's relaxing," Ianto had said. That was one time that Jack had come round to find Ianto had bought rump steak to mince down into burgers. "I like it, there's just something so… messy about it."

Jack had raised his eyebrows, messy. That was the one thing he didn't expect Ianto to like.

"Lisa always seemed to use three utensils when one would do. She always loved cooking."

The books were Lisa's, the influence was hers.

So Jack had taken it calmly, it was just another to go along with the rest of Ianto's quirks. And another one of those was at the far end of the shelf. He had the guarantees and instructions – or destructions if you were Jack, Ianto had once said - to all his appliances. Jack flicked through them and found the one that had 'washing machine' written on the front in Ianto's scrawling but neat handwriting.

And with all the washing piled at his feet, not just from today but the basket's accumulation of a few days, Jack started to read. He understood the sorting process, on lazy weekend mornings he had seen Ianto tidy his way through it often enough. So everything had been put into relevant piles.

He read intently and then put the correct powder and conditioner in the drawers, he thought he had it the right way round, and set it. He shut the door and pressed the start button. The machine clicked, and then stopped. Jack almost had his wrist strap out thinking there was something wrong but then he heard the hiss and chug as water started to flow in. Then slowly the machine started to spin. Jack then looked at the hanging washing and he slowly started to take it down, putting it in the basket to be ironed. He hoped to God he really didn't have to bother with that. However, he spotted a pile that Ianto had done not long ago, so they had a few days grace.

Putting the ironing in the bedroom, actually being neat for a change, his senses alerted as he heard sounds from downstairs. Ianto slowly started to move up the stairs. Jack had put him in front of a three hour run of The Simpsons. Ianto liked it, and it seemed harmless enough to him. But he had obviously got bored.

Jack came out of the bedroom to find him just reaching the top of the stairs, taking it slow, with Barney under his arm.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked. He looked at the stairs and then at tiny little Ianto climbing them determinedly. The shot of fear was probably well justified but Ianto reached the top and walked to him to rest against his legs. Jack ruffled his drying but still slightly damp hair.

"You get bored?"

Ianto nodded.

"Okay, come on, we can sort out dinner. What would you like?"

There was a frown on Ianto's face as he looked up. Perhaps Jack shouldn't have asked that. Asking Ianto questions just seemed to drum up confusion as his mind tried to translate to three-year-old him.

"Shall we go and look?"

Ianto nodded. Jack reached down to pick him up. He wasn't about to let Ianto start negotiating the stairs. However, even Jack felt a little daunted taking Ianto down them. He propped him on his right hip, as he had done over the course of the last day and a half, and put his left hand on the wall to keep himself steady. He watched his feet carefully, keeping his weight balanced. Ianto didn't look set to make any sudden moves but you could never really tell.

Jack moved down the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ianto, don't go up or down the stairs without me."

In response Ianto blinked, looking confused. But he nodded. Along with the other things Jack had said, the strange requests which were taking too long to process. Jack gave him an order and Ianto would do as he was told. He was a good little boy. Despite some horrors and upsets he had been well behaved.

Jack carried him into the kitchen and set him down. He felt that twinge in his back again. When we get this sorted, he's giving me a bloody good massage, Jack thought. Ianto followed the sound of the washing machine coming through the utility room where Jack had left the door open. Ianto watched it for a moment and then reached up to the controls.

"Don't touch it!" Jack said, a little panicked. He had thought he'd got it right, he didn't need little Ianto making a mess of it. He grabbed Ianto around the waist and lifted him back shutting the door firmly. Ianto watched him, he didn't look upset, just curious.

"Right, now, food. What's good for this time of day?"

Jack started to rummage through the cupboards. Next to him Ianto opened the lower cupboards, peering into them, but as Jack shut one and moved onto the next Ianto followed him. Jack opened the cupboard where Ianto kept the tinned food. Below him Ianto opened the cupboard that held his pots and pans, nearly kneecapping Jack as he did so.

Ianto backed up to look in Jack's cupboard to see if it was more interesting and backed into the kitchen table banging his head on the lip.

"Ow!" Ianto said. He stepped forward, turned round and hit the table with Barney. Jack stopped rummaging, shut the lower cupboard and went to Ianto rubbing the back of his head. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," Ianto said sulkily. He batted at the table again.

"Stop doing that to Barney. Here, sit there." Jack hefted him onto the table and rummaged in the cupboard.

"Soup, what about soup."

Ianto snorted and wafted Barney in disgust.

"Well, we've beans here, or… corned beef could we do anything with corned beef…"

"No," Ianto said.

"Tuna?" Jack picked up a few tins of tuna, and found a jar of pesto sauce close by. He turned around and looked at Ianto's vegetable rack. A huge bag of potatoes sat on the lowest rack.

"Baked potatoes, with tuna and pesto."

"And cheese," Ianto added.

"Do we have cheese?" Jack asked. He went to Ianto's fridge and looked in the relevant space for cheese. The plastic box sat there with a generous chunk inside. "We have cheese." He pulled his head out of the fridge. "You want cheese?"

There was a heavy sound from upstairs and then the stairs creaked as Brad ran down them. He sauntered into the kitchen. He paused just past the doorway and sat down.

"And which do you want, cheese or tuna?" Jack asked the cat.

Brad yawned and lifted a paw to lick at it. Ianto watched him from up on the kitchen table with intense concentration. Brad turned to lick at his back.

"So, jacket potatoes, we'll do tuna and cheese."

"Yes!" Ianto said.

"Okay, I can do jacket potatoes. Do you want to stir the pesto into the tuna?"

As Jack washed and sorted potatoes he also put the tuna and pesto into a bowl and let Ianto stir it.

"Stop licking it!"

Jack took the spoon of him. "I don't want your horrid spit in my food!"

Ianto looked up and smiled. The potatoes were now baking in the oven so Jack sat down next to Ianto and he helped him stir the spoon. Ianto was concentrating but he also wanted to lick at it.

"Are you really that hungry?"

"It's nice!"

"I know it's nice but wait until the potatoes are done. Do you want to help me grate the cheese?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

They sat next to each other at Ianto's kitchen table. It made things easier for Jack. He had cut up the potato for Ianto and doused it with tuna in pesto. Then he had added cheese and grilled it, making the cheese melt and the tuna sizzle.

Ianto seemed to like it. He smiled up at Jack as he ate his potato and tuna. Jack sliced up the bits of skin he had missed and Ianto ate everything. For precautions sake Jack tucked a napkin into Ianto's top, to cover him up and preserve the pyjamas he was wearing.

It was so like Ianto that it was painful for Jack to even look at. When he really looked, just doing nothing but thinking about it rather than dealing with him, that was when he worried. Could they get the machine to reverse him? What the devil would they do if it didn't work? Or even more horrifically, if it went wrong.

Jack could calibrate the timer on the device but they still had to get it to power up and function. They would test it first, no doubt about that and Toshiko was good enough to make the thing work. And it was foolish, he thought, to theoretically build a bridge he may never have to cross. But he couldn't help but do it.

There was the possibility that this was unfixable. Jack remembered when they had been dealing with his amnesia he had wondered if it was better that he didn't get his memory back. On occasion he had wanted it back, desperately, but life had been very simple without all the thoughts and feelings knocking around his head. Instead there had just been the here and now of every situation.

He wondered if Ianto deep down inside there wanted to be turned back. Or was he really not thinking about it, happy enough with the situation. He had Jack, Ianto clearly felt secure with that. He'd had so many traumas in his life, and in such a shorter time compared to Jack. At least he had been given the time to come to terms with so much. Jack didn't think Ianto ever would. Owen was right, Ianto was screwed up beyond repair. Was it worthwhile just letting him try it again? But how could he do that around Torchwood and him.

"Eat your own!" Jack said to him as Ianto reached over to steal a clump of melted cheese off his plate. Ianto giggled at him and ate it.

"Great, I get your spit in my food and then you nick all the best bits," Jack said. He reached out and squeezed Ianto's ribs, just where he was ticklish, making him yelp. Jack laughed.

But still the debate raged on in his mind. And one part of it he couldn't ignore. It was probably morally wrong to keep him as a child, if it was by Jack's choice. If they couldn't get the machine to work then obviously Ianto was stuck. But there was no way Jack could consciously make a decision to keep Ianto as a child. And a child with adult memories at that. He was still in there, probably just as muddled and screwed-up but in there all the same.

And it didn't matter what problems Ianto had, Jack loved him no matter what. Further to that, over the course of the last two days, it had become quiet clear that that in itself was enough for Ianto.

"You finished?" Jack asked as Ianto scooped up a final bit of potato, then he nodded.

"Right. Then we'll clear up, unload the washing and you can help me hang it up."

Ianto grizzled as Jack pulled his chair back and lifted him off the seat. "Don't want to."

"People who steal the best bits from other people's plates have to help hang the washing up. After we've done that you can have some ice cream if you want."

Ianto thought about that. "Okay."

"Right then, come on, let's put you to work."