This little fic is really just a fluffy interim between Just Like A Man and the next part, Danger Zone - as is blatantly obvious by the yawning cliffie at the end of this chapter!

I'll begin posting Danger Zone as soon as I can! Thankyou to those who've read, and I'm sorry about my long absence! It's fabulous to hear from you again :)

Chapter 2

I'm drowning in your vanity
Your laugh is a disease

The day progressed as most typical Torchwood days did. They got several false alarms, a couple of recon trips and a stray weevil in the back streets of one of the housing estates. As usual, Jack took Ianto with him on the weevil hunt, both of them enjoying the comforting familiarity of doing something like that together after the past couple of weeks.

When they'd returned, the unconscious weevil was locked up in the cells and Ianto had been forced to shower and change into a clean set of clothes. Quite uncharacteristically, Ianto had emerged from the showers in a sulk and had snapped at Owen for whining about lack of coffee – that wasn't particularly out of character for him, just amusing.

"Ianto, what's up?" Jack asked after he'd practically ripped Owen's head off for the second time.

"Nothing." Ianto said stubbornly, his jaw clenched as he finished making the coffees.

"Come on, I know when you're in a mood." Jack chided, wrapping his arms around the young man's waist from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. "What's up?"

"Jack…" Ianto started to protest, but was cut short as Jack turned his head into his neck and started to hum with his mouth pressed against the soft skin there. It instantly loosened the young man up and he sighed. "This tie really doesn't go with this shirt, but they were the only ones I had to change into."

For a moment, Jack didn't do or say anything. With deliberate care, he lifted his head up and started to chuckle - the deep, contagious chuckle that only came out when he was truly trying to suppress it. The sound reverberated through his ribs and Ianto's back, the sound wrapping around him, making it impossible for him to scowl or sulk over his lover's reaction.

He did, however, manage to grit his teeth and turn around, aiming to get rid of Jack by going back into the Hub, but after a couple of steps, Jack caught him around the waist with one hand and pulled him closer with the other, gripping onto his tie. Jack grinned at him in an extremely mischievous manner and Ianto couldn't help but roll his eyes and sigh inwardly.

"You know I think you look downright edible in any shirt and tie." He said quietly, leaning in to kiss his neck gently to illustrate his point. "And we all know that my opinion on how you look is all that matters."

"Of course, sir." Ianto said with a fake sigh of resignation. He managed to smile, completely taken by Jack's laughter and carefree attitude, and delivered the coffees on his tray to their respective owners.

You're dirty and you're sweet
You know you're everything to me

Before the day was through, the entire team had to go an neutralise a large, tusked alien that was thrashing it's way through Cardiff high street. It took them less than ten minutes to locate it – all they had to do was follow the path of destruction.

Ianto and Tosh had approached from the back, Gwen and Owen from the side and Jack from the front, all of them trying to herd it into a dead end alley. They very nearly had it when a loud bang from a closing shop spooked the beast and it tore towards Ianto and Tosh.

Without thinking, Ianto pulled Tosh behind him, raising his gun at the startled creature with the target trained on it's forehead. Before he had a chance to fire, Jack – who was intent on saving the creature, seeing as it was pretty much a huge teddy bear, scared for its life – lunged at it from behind with a guttural snarl, jumping on it's back and injecting the sedative straight into the creature's spinal column.

It teetered on its large, pawed feet and took several steps towards Ianto and Tosh before swaying alarmingly and falling forwards with a startled whimper. To get out of the way in time, Ianto had to grab Tosh and pull her to the floor, rolling sharply away from the unconscious creature and the triumphant Jack.

Ianto apologised quietly to the startled woman lying next to him and pulled her gently to her feet. Then he turned and glared at Jack, who was now looking at him with a sheepish smile. Feeling absolutely no desire to continue being annoyed, Ianto smiled and nodded his head in thanks before helping the rest of the team with the clean up operation.

It took them another half an hour to clear the sight and a further two hours to round up all the witnesses, retcon them and plant the cover stories. Once all that was done, Ianto was tired to his bones and just wanting to trek home for a shower.

"Thanks for today, Ianto." Tosh said with a smile, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek before heading out of the huge cog door for the home. Owen and Gwen said goodbye amicably and they too left. All that remained was for Jack to finish up whatever he was doing.

Ianto slumped down onto the sofa with a sigh and closed his eyes, leaning his head back as he waited. He was feeling decidedly dirty and messed up, due to the damp ground he'd rolled over and the shifting of the unconscious beast, slumping sideways onto the dirt walls of the lower vaults on numerous occasion.

What must've been twenty minutes later, he felt the cushion dip beside him, drawing him from his half sleep.

"Finally." Ianto said with an exaggerated sigh, pulling himself to his feet and grabbing a slightly bewildered Jack by the hand. "Come on, I'm going home. I need a shower and a proper bed tonight."

"I'll see you first thing in the morning then." Jack said with a slightly deflated expression, leaning in for a slow, lingering kiss that set Ianto's heart beating just that little bit faster. When he pulled away, Ianto had a smile on his face.

"I prefer my bed with two people in it." He said with a laugh, pulling Jack behind him. After a couple of steps, Jack's mind caught up with his body and he linked his fingers through Ianto's, glad that he was still wearing his coat. He didn't like leaving the Hub for extended periods of time without it. "You know, for all your sureties and flirting, you can be incredibly naïve sometimes."

Jack looked over with a frown before pulling the young man closer, walking across the plass in the cool night air, looking forward to comfort of Ianto's flat and Ianto himself.

*

Jack had realised something about Ianto as they sat curled up on the sofa, clean and fed after the stressful afternoon. He looked down at the young man resting his head in his lap, eyes closed and drifting to sleep gradually.

Of all his travels in the universe, he'd met many vibrant personalities, many beautiful people, many strong and violent people and many caring and funny people. It was only very rarely that you met someone who had a mixture of all of them. Jack thought he could count on one hand the people who'd been that mix and he'd had long and meaningful relationships with all but two – The Doctor and Rose.

That struck a chord with him, telling him more than ever that what was happening with Ianto wasn't just convenience. It was a nice feeling knowing that there was more to his life than Torchwood once more, as much as he loved his job.

"Stop thinking so hard, Jack." Ianto groaned, the sleep on the edges of his mind rolling away mockingly. Jack had started to drum his fingers on Ianto's arm and the young man wasn't impressed.

Jack only drummed his fingers when he was thinking very, very hard though.

"Crap… Sorry, Ianto." Jack said with a grimace, stroking Ianto's hair gently in an attempt to soothe him back to sleep. It half worked, Ianto's eyes drooping slightly as he breathed in deeply. Jack was just contemplating carrying Ianto through to the bedroom when something both alarming and sickening happened.

Jack's wrist strap beeped.

"Woah… That never beeps." Ianto sat up with a jerk, his eyes wide with shock as the two of them looked cautiously at the strap. Jack lifted his free hand and pressed a couple of buttons.

"That's what I was thinking…" Jack muttered as a blue hologram buzzed into life, a three foot image of a man standing on the coffee table in front of them.

"I can't believe I got the answering machine! What could be more important than me?" The man put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes in annoyance. Ianto frowned and Jack looked thoroughly bemused. "Anyway, I need to talk to you. As soon as possible – be snappy about it, I want to be good and sober for this discussion."

Then the man looked back at Jack and wiggled his eyebrows, a shark like grin on his face as the image collapsed vertically, then horizontally and withdrew to wrist strap again. Jack frowned at the device for a moment before looking up at Ianto in confusion.

Please let me know what you think!