Author's Notes: I'm a bit faster this time and this was written a bit one a whim, so I hope it's okay. It's kind of cheesy towards the end and bordering on smutty, but I chickened out of it. Again.

Anyway, I hope you like it and, as always, feel free to let me know what you think.

Patience – resolving conflicts peacefully, as opposed to violence. The ability to forgive; to show mercy to sinners.

Jack had to admit at least to himself that this had been building up for quite a while. The tension in the TARDIS hadn't been lost on anybody, least of all him, but the Doctor and Ianto had both conveniently decided not to notice it. Either that, or they were genuinely clueless, but Jack had his suspicions.

Ianto was never clueless.

And the situation they had found themselves in now only served to prove that point, really, because Ianto was playing the peacemaker and it looked like he'd been prepared to do it.

'Stop it, Jack," he said quietly but firmly – he'd practically dragged the man in question with himself in the library so they could talk, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be heard – and the Captain stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't believe that he was doing this again. 'Don't look at me like that. She hasn't done anything that bad, except for calling you a paranoid idiot and you have to admit that she has a point."

Jack hissed in response. "And I'm sure that thing she's got on her wrist is the one I already own, and she wouldn't even let me touch it!"

Of course he'd side with her. Bloody typical, really, and also the only way any fight had gone since they were on board. Saint River and her fiercest protector.

"Why do you always have to be like that?" And really, how could his resolve not falter when Ianto was looking at him like that? "I thought we talked about this."

No. He would never be able to get through this conversation if Ianto was going to do that thing with his eyes. That look that made them even wider and bluer than they already were and that just asked for understanding.

The thing was, he was tired of this. Of Ianto's worship of River as if she were a goddess among mere mortals. And perhaps he was still holding a bit of a grudge over the fact that Ianto had trusted her with his secret before trusting him.

"We did," Jack said quietly at last. "We did, I know. But it's just– she's full of secrets and has something that might just be my Vortex Manipulator. Doesn't that worry you?"

"No!" Ianto said it as if it should have been obvious and Jack's frown deepened. "It could be a coincidence or – I don't know. Who knows what the future holds? I'm pretty sure she hasn't taken it out of your helpless hands."

"You can't ignore the fact that it's at least a bit suspicious."

"I could ask her, if you'd like," Ianto offered and, when Jack just scoffed, carefully added, "What's this about, Jack? She's had the Manipulator since you've known her, why is it such a problem all of a sudden?"

Jack looked down to avoid Ianto's inquisitive gaze. He looked genuinely curious, and Jack knew that he didn't have to be hostile if he wanted to get anywhere with this. "You hardly know anything about her," he got out reluctantly in the end.

"I hardly knew anything about you either, back when we first met," Ianto pointed out gently. When Jack looked up to find his eyes, he realised that his lover was smiling. The Captain glared at him and Ianto's smile got all the wider.

"What's so funny?" Jack snapped and Ianto outright laughed at him and then leant in to plant a small kiss on his nose.

"You're adorable when you're jealous, you know," Ianto confided in him quietly and then proceeded to place equally chaste kisses down Jack's jaw line. "And I've seen it happen more and more lately, which is equal parts infuriating and sweet."

"I prefer to be adorable and sweet rather than infuriating," Jack pointed out breathily. There wasn't much point in denying Ianto's accusation of jealousy when he knew that his lover was right. Sure, people had been in love with Ianto before and Jack had almost always found it rather amusing, but for Ianto to be so fascinated by someone else? No. It had never happened, and he didn't like it one bit. He was flexible all right, but when he was in a relationship he'd worked so hard on having, he thought he had earned the right to be a little possessive. "And you're being ridiculous."

"And how did you get to that conclusion?" Ianto asked quietly and Jack smiled, pleased, when he heard the warmth in his voice just as cool, long fingers slid delicately up his ribs and over his chest. As innocent as Ianto tended to make himself look, Jack knew that he wasn't a stranger to a wide spectrum of seduction tactics when he knew he'd get something form it, and the Captain was a more than willing participant in his exploits.

"You're, uh," Jack mumbled, perfectly aware of the fact that their usual roles were reversed. "You know, if goes against every training you've had in One to trust mysterious unknown women who happen to be in prison in their free time and have your partner's Vortex Manipulator."

"Don't you think that this would be a bit too specific for One?" Ianto's voice was like rich silk sliding down his skin and he didn't feel the smallest hint of a wish to stop it from wrapping him in its clutches completely. "What we were supposed to do – well, when we were outside of out areas of expertise, really – was to have psychic training, basic knowledge on most martial arts, and recognise the Doctor on sight."

"And how did you do?" Jack was getting a bit breathless, but he couldn't do anything about it. Ianto's lips on his throat maintained a devastatingly precise concentration on the matter at hand and didn't seem inclined to stop doing so any time soon – not that Jack had any complaints.

There was something a little sad in the small laugh Ianto gave at that question. "Top of the class," he said quietly. "I was the first one who recognised the TARDIS on our cameras; I told Yvonne." Ah, so that was what the problem was. He was feeling guilty. "I could block everyone – even Yvonne, and she taught me – out of my head. And for the fighting?" Ianto's voice was down to a purr now as he bit Jack's neck and tugged at the skin gently with his teeth and, when he spoke again, that delicious timbre was ever lower than before. "I know how to take out any species we had listed in the Archives, and then some, with at least thirteen different kinds of firearm known to humans." He pulled Jack closer to himself by the hips and pulled back slightly to look him in the eye. "And don't even get me started on otherworldly weapons." There was that slightly manic in his eyes that tended to appear when he knew that he was being exceptionally brilliant, and Jack shivered in his arms involuntarily.

He'd been as tempted by Ianto's mind as much as he was by his body and his lover knew it very well. He also knew how to make good use of that information. Before the Captain could get his breath back, he found himself brought into a kiss and then pressed against one of the shelves where the other inhabitants of the TARDIS rarely wandered.

It was hours later that Jack realised that Ianto had made him forget all about his fight with River – and then with Ianto himself and it got him only a second more to decide that he didn't mind one bit.