A/N: Apologies for the long delay in posting. Real Life decided to ambush me! Anyway, a truly soppy, fluffy chapter this time around, with a little bit of raunchiness thrown in, so avoid if you have an aversion to such things! ;-)

Whispers and Promises

Tosh eventually left in the early evening, after they had contacted Owen to give him the news and make the suggestion of meeting up on the beach. Owen had been a little prickly about Tosh not having contacted him but when Tosh had admitted that she hadn't wanted to complicate his time with Katie, he had been elbowed off the phone by Katie. She had immediately started chatting to Tosh and once the ice had been broken the two women had exchanged telephone numbers and had made tentative plans to talk again the next day.

"Should I be worried?" Owen demanded when he got the phone back.

Jack looked to where Tosh was sitting with a relieved expression on her face and a hint of mischief in her eyes and he laughed. "Oh, yeah," he said and then had to hand the phone over to Ianto because he was laughing too much over Owen's moans.

They decided to meet up for a beach expedition the Saturday after next, which gave Owen time to arrange his rota. Tosh stayed to have dinner with them and they exchanged stories about settling into their new lives. She left after they had cleared up and Jack went to stand outside on the balcony, watching her make for the bus stop in the gathering twilight. When he went back inside there was no sign of Ianto and Jack settled down in front of the TV and switched it on, heading for the news channels to do some more background research.

It wasn't until he had been watching for about an hour that he realised that there was still no sign of Ianto. Feeling mildly put out that the Welshman hadn't come to lean against the sofa and make sarcastic comments about the more gossipy segments of the news, Jack shut off the TV and went in search of his lover. There was no sign of him in the kitchen or the study so Jack made for the bedroom, wondering if Ianto had decided to make an early night of it without telling him.

He walked into their bedroom to find it ablaze with candlelight. The air was heavy with the scent of candle wax and jasmine, which it hadn't taken Ianto long to discover was one of Jack's favourite scents. There was no sign of Ianto but the door to the bathroom was open and the same warm flickering light could be seen through there, along with the sound of water running. Grinning with anticipation, Jack started to pull his t-shirt over his head as he made for the bathroom.

As he had suspected, Ianto was busy pouring some of the oil they both favoured into the bath. He glanced up as Jack walked in, his expression of concentration morphing into a smile of welcome that broadened as Jack kicked off his jeans and underpants as he finished shoving them down over his hips. Ianto, Jack noted with delight, was already naked under his bathrobe and he acceded happily to Jack's demand for a kiss.

"Get in the bath," he said when they eventually broke off the slow, languorous kiss.

"Hmm, being assertive and proactive," jack said with a smile. "Love it." He slid into the warm water with a sigh of pleasure, then cocked an inquiring eye at Ianto. "You're not joining me?"

Ianto gave him a crooked smile. "Not this time. I just feel like pampering you."

He turned to reach for a nearby sponge and missed the thoughtful look that Jack gave him. This was something they had done before but it had usually happened when Jack had had a rough death or a case had gone spectacularly wrong and Jack had felt it was his fault. Why Ianto felt it necessary to do this now when Jack had found out that he had three quarters of his family back in his life was a bit of a mystery, but Jack decided that the best thing to do would be to go with the flow and wait until he found out a bit more.

The important thing was that while he had always appreciated the care and attention Ianto had lavished on him during these times, Ianto got just as much out of it by being allowed to help Jack. Ianto always found it far easier to give help rather than be helped and Jack had known that he had become special to Ianto when Ianto had started to tell him when he needed something for himself.

Ianto took his time bathing him, his touch moving from intimate to neutral and back again. Jack had always been responsive to Ianto's touch and his having been regressed to eighteen and made mortal again had done nothing to affect his libido where the other man was concerned, so he was more than willing to obey Ianto's suggestion that he move back into the bedroom once he had dried off. He hadn't noticed the old sheet that had been tossed on the bed the first time he had come through but he did when he went back and his skin tingled in anticipation. He'd taught Ianto all about erotic massages and Ianto had been a very able pupil.

"Don't get me wrong, but why are you doing this?" he asked as he lay face-down on the bed and tilted his head to watch Ianto reach for the oil that had been warming over a small burner.

Ianto just smiled and shook his head before dribbling the first trail of warm oil along Jack's spine. He went to work and Jack was soon a contented mass of pleasure sprawled on the bed, torn between arousal and somnolence. He turned over to lie on his back and smiled up at Ianto as he came to lean over Jack and kiss him with slow thoroughness. Jack reached up to cup his hand against the nape of Ianto's neck when the other man started to draw away again, keeping him close and reaching up to claim another kiss. He could feel Ianto smiling against his lips before he relaxed into the kiss but when Jack used his other hand to reach under Ianto's dressing gown to caress his hip, Ianto pulled back and shook his head.

"Not yet," he murmured.

"Ianto…" Jack knew he was whining but he didn't care.

"Ssh," Ianto said, placing a finger against Jack's lips. "I need to do this."

"But I'm fine," Jack said. "I don't need this. I just need you."

Ianto gave him a charmed smile and swooped in for another kiss. "Love you too, my Captain, but you do need this. You showed me that this afternoon."

Jack's bewilderment was cut short when Ianto really started to go to town on him. Three years into a sexual relationship and two years into an emotional one, Ianto knew every touch and every move guaranteed to bring Jack to full aching arousal. He made use of that knowledge now and Jack was soon barely able to remember his name, let alone hold on to any idea of arguing with Ianto. Ianto used his mouth to wicked effect and Jack was soon shuddering under the throes of climax before collapsing back onto the bed, his heart thundering in his ears and his chest heaving as he struggled to recover his breath. He was hyper-aware of Ianto sliding up alongside him, the silk of his dressing gown ghosting across his sensitive skin.

"You have nothing to prove to us, Jack," Ianto whispered in his ear. "No reason to hate yourself for the decisions you made, no need to regret anything that happened." He reached over to hold Jack in place as he felt the other man tense beside him. "None of us have ever blamed you for doing what needed to be done. All of us were proud – are proud – to have known you and followed you. We would all do it again and we would all accept the consequences."

Jack pulled in a shuddering breath. Of course Ianto had caught that moment of weakness on his part when he was talking to Tosh. He turned into the other man's comforting embrace. "So much death, Ianto," he said in a ragged whisper. "I can't do it again. I don't have the strength."

Ianto's embrace tightened fractionally. "You are the strongest man I have ever known, Jack," he said softly. "You've gone through tests that would have shattered any other man and you've held your head high, but every man needs to be able to let go of his burden some time and rest. No-one will think any less of you. Tosh slipped back into the Torchwood mindset, that's all. She died without knowing the price you paid for gray's return and for what came afterwards."

"The Doctor-"

"The Doctor isn't human, Jack," Ianto shot back. "He isn't human and quite frankly he isn't very fair. He expects too much and is too quick to criticise. He condemns Torchwood and honours UNIT but it wasn't UNIT who stood against the government when they wanted to hand children over to the aliens. I know you love him but I don't. I respect him but I can't love him. He's hurt you too deeply and casually for me to ever love him."

There was a moment of silence before Jack sighed and relaxed into his embrace. "He was different before he changed," he said quietly. "I think he would have come back for me if he hadn't changed."

"Maybe so, but he still knew what had happened to you and I find it hard to believe that a Timelord wouldn't have been able to get a message to you somehow, even if he couldn't meet you in the flesh." Ianto struggled to control his longstanding antipathy towards the Doctor and focused on the here and now. "Let the past go, Jack," he ordered his lover quietly. "We lived through it and now we have a new life, a second chance. No more shadows hanging over us. No more recriminations, reminders or crazed ex-boyfriends to make our lives a lot more interesting than we would like!" He smiled as he felt the huff of laughter pass through Jack's body. "How did the song go? It's a new day, it's a new dawn and a nice life?"

Jack chuckled. "It's a new dawn, it's a new day and a new life for me, and I'm feelin' good," he sang.

"Are you?"

Just for a second, Ianto's insecurities were visible before they vanished again, but Jack caught them. His smile became tender and he leaned forward to rub his cheek against Ianto's. "Yes, I am," he said simply.

Ianto gave a small smile and a sigh as he relaxed as well. "Good. I don't want you to regret having done this."

Jack levered himself up to lean on one arm and made sure he made eye contact with the other man. "No matter what happens, Ianto, I will never regret the fact that I have the chance to really live a life with you."

Ianto met his eyes and to Jack's delight, he blushed furiously. "That is probably the soppiest thing I have ever heard you say," Ianto said a mock disgust, although the gleam in his eyes said otherwise.

"Oh? You think that was soppy? That was nothing!" Jack exclaimed, realising that both of them had edged into deeper waters than they were comfortable with just yet. "I can make Hallmark look like amateur night if I want to. Let me see, now…"

"Jack…" Ianto said warningly, failing miserably to hold back his grin.

Jack matched it and let his other hand wander lazily in a southerly direction along ianto's body. "Of course, I could opt for actions speaking louder than words…" he said suggestively as he curved his fingers around Ianto's cock and started to fondle it.

Ianto's eyes lost focus as his body reacted strongly to Jack's touch. "Oh, yes," he managed after a moment. "I love a man of action."

With a mischievous grin, Jack set to repaying Ianto in kind for his earlier attentions and they left the more dangerously emotional waters behind them as they lost themselves in mutual pleasure. Jack knew that Ianto would still be watching out for him, both emotionally as well as physically, and he was determined to do the same. He'd missed so many chances in his life to date but this was one that he was determined to hang on to.

OOOO