The first thing Ianto thought when he awoke in Jack's arms the following day was that he had forgotten how the early morning Cardiff light enhanced the blue of Jack's eyes; the blue eyes that were now staring lovingly into his own. Ianto grinned

'Hello husband'

Jack grinned back, 'hello husband'

'What time is it?' asked Ianto sleepily

'5.47' said Jack confidently

Ianto frowned, 'that's very specific' he said, 'how do you know?'

Jack kissed the tip of Ianto's nose, 'easy; the shadows on the wall tell me that the sun isn't very high in the sky' he said, 'the breeze from the window is still quite cool suggesting that the outside temperature is still at an early morning low and the noise from the roads tell me that the traffic is quite light and therefore it must be pre-rush hour'

'That's very impressive' said Ianto

'Besides' said Jack, 'I can see your watch on the bedside table'

'JACK!' Ianto launched himself onto his spouse who was helpless with laughter, running his fingers over the older man's ribs making him laugh even harder

'Ok, ok, enough' panted Jack making an abortive attempt to grab Ianto's wrists. Ianto retaliated by grasping Jack's wrists and pinning them above his head and they lay chest to chest grinning and gasping. Ianto moved closer to Jack, his breath catching as their nipples brushed enticingly against each other. Jack's eyes began to darken and he canted his hips so that his erection slid teasingly against Ianto's. For a long time the two men were content to lay entwined, eyes locked, thrusting gently together feeling their desire wax and wane with their movements, basking in the happiness of just being with each other. After a while, however, Jack noticed that Ianto's eyes were glazing over and it was obvious that his mind was wandering; Jack took Ianto's ear lobe between his lips sucking hard and then biting gently making him shudder and groan.

'Am I boring you, Ianto?'

Ianto kissed Jack's neck, 'sorry, just realised that I have walked away from my London life without a word to anyone or a backwards glance. There is so much I need to do. I need to cancel the lease on my flat, put my notice in at the library, I need...' he broke off as Jack twisted them so that Ianto lay beneath him.

'You need to let me make love with you, you need to have me inside you making you scream, you need come and come and come until you nearly pass out and then...then you need to do all that to me.'

'Wow', Ianto sounded impressed, 'you really have given this a lot of thought, Jack' his voice wavered as Jack slid down his body to slurp one of his balls into his mouth as his fingers explored Ianto's hungry puckered hole.

'Oh gods' shrieked Ianto as Jack inserted his finger and probed for his prostate at the same time as he sucked the head of his weeping penis into his clever mouth.

An hour later Ianto stood in the shower buried balls deep in Jack's arse, pounding him furiously as Jack thrust back against him, his hands held flat on the tiled wall.

'Please Yan' wailed Jack, 'please touch me'

Ianto thrust even more strongly and bit Jack's shoulder so hard he drew blood, ' no' he growled, 'come just from the feel of me inside you, come now Jack, come for me now'

Jack threw his head back and screamed Ianto's name as his ejaculate sprayed copiously over the shower cubicle wall and Ianto emptied himself deep inside his spouse. They collapsed together onto the floor of the shower, Ianto having the presence of mind to shut of the water as they did so. They wrapped their arms around each other placing gentle kisses on whatever patch of wet skin they could comfortably reach

'Love you'

'Love you more'

In the Hub, Owen was making a half hearted attempt to tidy his autopsy bay whilst Gwen was wandering around with a black rubbish sack throwing the occasional discarded pizza box in to it but really just fantasising about what Jack might do to her to show how much he had missed her. Tosh was at her work station, reviewing Jack's e-mails in order to prioritise them for his attention when he returned and keeping one eye on her colleagues. Owen looked up and caught her gaze making her smile as his face softened and he blew her a small kiss. Gwen caught their exchange and scowled, enjoy it whist you can she thought viciously, fingering the small flask of PUSH that she had collected from its hiding place in the vaults earlier, come tonight you will loathe each other. She stood in the shadows, gazing off into space, lost in her own happy little world where everything and everyone was arranged for her satisfaction. She was jerked from her reverie by the klaxon indicating the opening of the cog wheel door.

'Hey kids, did ya miss me?'

'JACK!' Gwen dropped her rubbish bag, ran across the hub, elbowing Tosh to one side and throwing herself into Jack's unenthusiastic embrace

'I missed you baby, I missed you so much' she peppered his face with kisses and slid her hand between them to cup his genitals.

A gentle cough sounded from the doorway, 'would you like to explain why you have your grubby little claws on my husband's cock?' enquired Ianto mildly as he moved to stand next to Jack and placed a proprietorial hand on his arse.

Owen and Tosh exchanged glances and quietly moved to stand behind Gwen, Tosh collecting a stun gun from her desk as she did so.

Gwen look a step back, a look of confusion crossing her smug features, 'Jack? Baby? What's going on,' recovering herself she cast a contemptuous sneer at Ianto, 'and what the hell is HE doing here?'

Jack reached down and took Ianto's hand 'my husband and I..' he began then stopped as Ianto started to chuckle making Jack laugh also. Jack made an effort to pull himself together and began again. 'Ianto and I got married yesterday. He is my mate, my lover, my husband and my soul and you...you are nothing to me.'

Gwen's eyes flashed, 'nothing?' she said, 'have the last eight months been nothing? Is the love we have for each other nothing? Have you forgotten that this little shit was cheating on you?'

Jack gave her a ferocious grin that showed far more teeth than a human could reasonably possess 'sorry,' he snarled, 'but that won't work anymore. I've had at least five days without you feeding me PUSH so you can keep your poisonous suggestions to yourself.'

Gwen didn't hesitate, she whipped her gun out and pointed it at Ianto, 'you fucking loser' she snarled, 'why do you have to spoil everything. Why. Don't. You. Just. DIE.'

With a growl, Tosh discharged her stun gun into the back of Gwen's neck, stepping hurriedly back to allow the fuming woman to crash heavily to the floor. Owen bent and retrieved Gwen's gun and searched her holding up the flask of PUSH he found in the inside pocket of her jacket. Jack had Ianto in his arms and was kissing him desperately and murmuring endearments to him whilst Tosh now had her arms around both men and was sobbing quietly.

'Jack 'said Owen, 'I hate to interrupt this love in but we have questions, the first one being - what do you want us to do with this?' and he shoved Gwen's unconscious form with is foot.

Jack sighed, 'put her in a cell for the time being. She has injured all of us in one way or another so we all need to discuss what to do with her. Lock her up and join us in the conference room in ten minutes.'

Owen nodded, handed the bottle containing the PUSH to Jack, manoeuvred Gwen's body into a position that allowed him to sling the limp woman over his shoulder and headed towards the vaults. 'Make us a coffee, Teaboy' he called back as he disappeared.

Jack and Ianto, Tosh and Owen sat around the table in the boardroom sipping coffee.

'Oh' moaned Owen, 'I have so-oo missed your coffee, Teaboy.'

Tosh thumped him gently on the arm, 'don't listen to him, Ianto' she said, 'tell us about the wedding. Maybe we can get some tips for ours'

Jack leant across the table and picked up Tosh's hand, raising a quizzical eyebrow as he ran his thumb over her engagement ring, 'when did this happen?'

'This morning' smiled Tosh.

'Brilliant' Jack's wide smile took in both Tosh and Owen, 'that is so brilliant.'

'Yeah' Ianto shook Owen's hand, 'congratulations to you both, it's about time if you ask me'

Owen snorted, 'like you have room to talk'

'C'mon then' said Tosh excitedly, 'tell us everything.'

Ianto got to his feet, 'Jack can get you updated, I think we are going to need more coffee' he said

Ianto deliberately lingered in the kitchen once he had made the coffee. He knew Jack would be making a good story about their wedding and he was sorry to be missing it, but he really did not want to have to hear about the abuse that Gwen had subjected Jack to during his absence one more time. He was trying desperately to keep a grip on his emotions. When Jack and Owen had worked out Gwen's plot when they were in London, he had carefully concealed his fury from them both but now he had actually been face to face with her he could feel his rage churning in his belly. He carefully set out the mugs on the tray with shaking hands; he felt murderous, he wanted to go down to the vault and rip the duplicitous bitch to pieces with his bare hands because she had hurt Jack, his Jack. He placed his palms flat onto the worktop and took a deep shuddering breath; he was, he knew, a man who prided himself on his self control and his imperturbably and he knew that people found him hard to get to know. Lisa had always said that he made people work hard for his friendship, adding that the hard work was well worth it. Ianto was both exhilarated and terrified by the strength of his feeling for Jack Harkness.

Taking a deep breath Ianto made his way back to the boardroom, distributed the coffees and resumed his seat. Jack was in mid-sentence '...once Owen had isolated the PUSH molecular chain and I had recognised it, the solution was simple'

Tosh snorted 'how can it be such a dangerous drug when the antidote is so easily available?'

Jack smiled, 'easily available on 21st century earth' he said, 'by the 51st century the only ascorbic acid available is genetically modified and synthesized in laboratories and even the very best was not as pure as the natural stuff you guys drink at breakfast time every day. We really caught a lucky break to be honest'

Tosh shook her head sadly, 'I can't believe that we didn't see how disturbed Gwen was. I mean. It was obvious that she didn't like the attention you paid to Ianto but to drug you, to forcibly separate you both...that's..that's...' her voice tailed away

'I know Ianto and I are the injured parties' said Jack quietly but she was a threat to you guys too. She is a seriously deranged and dangerous woman'

Owen nodded, 'you are not wrong there, Captain. You should have seen way she looked at Tosh when she noticed her engagement ring. I can guess why she had that PUSH on her; tonight's dinner party would have been most interesting'

Jack looked confused 'Dinner party?'

Tosh broke in, 'she invited Owen and I to have dinner with you both at your place tonight'

Owen prodded the bottle of PUSH that was sitting innocuously on the table, 'I suspect the main course would have had some extra kick' he said.

Jack pulled a face and nodded, 'We need to do something to contain her and it has to be a team decision. Something we can all live with'

Owen leaned across the table, 'I say we just take her out.' He pulled a finger across his throat in graphic pantomime, 'we can't trust her, she is clearly obsessively psychotic as far as you are concerned. We won't be able to rely on her in the field, we know how she reacts to Retcon and how could you ever trust her near Ianto? Jack, she pulled a gun on him. Tosh, tell him!'

Tosh shook her head, 'I agree with everything you say 'she said firmly, 'but we kill her and *pft* that's it. She should suffer for what she has done to both and she should suffer for a very long time. I say we give her to UNIT '

Jack took hold of Ianto's hand and held it very tightly, he was staring at the table top as if it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen, 'she was supposed to remind us of our humanity. She was kind and big hearted until she met me, until I tainted her. This is all my fault. How can we punish her for something that I made her do?'

Ianto snorted, 'you made her think that, even though she was in a relationship of her own, that it was OK to lust after you?'

Jack shifted uncomfortably; 'I flirted with her...' he began

Ianto rolled his eyes in exasperation, 'Jack, you flirt with everyone' he said, 'how did you make her think that you being in a loving, committed relationship make it acceptable for her to engineer the destruction of that relationship? How did you give her the idea of drugging and raping you for the last eight months? How did you make her point that gun at me? Jack all of this mess was completely down to Gwen fucking Cooper and her twisted mind.'

Jack released Ianto and ran his hands through his hair, 'we can't trust her, Owen is right. But killing her...locking her away? Making her suffer? Does she deserve that? Are those the people we want to be?'

Owen and Tosh were nodding enthusiastically but Ianto took hold of Jack's hand again, I think the questions that need answering are 'why are you still making excuses for her? Why are you still protecting her, above all of us, above me?' he asked softly, 'why do you let her get away with this shit? Does she mean that much to you? Because if she does – where does that leave me, Jack? Where does that leave us?'

Jack twisted in his chair to face his spouse, 'No Yan, no' he said frantically, 'you, you mean the world to me, no-one, nothing is more important to me than you but, it's just... this...it's Gwen. She was our friend, our colleague, our team mate. I – I can't just discard her'

'She was never any of those things to me' replied Ianto

'Nor me' added Tosh

Me, neither' said Owen. Then when the others started at him in disbelief, he shrugged, 'it was a short affair, not even that really, just a few meaningless shags. We were never...close'

Jack opened his mouth to make a comment but the rift alert cut across his speech. 'Oh, now?' He asked the universe in general, 'you have to be fucking kidding me!'

Owen frowned at Tosh, 'thought we weren't expecting anything' he said accusingly

Tosh blushed and tapped the keys of her laptop, 'it's not infallible' she said defensively, she frowned, 'there's a big rift spike in Newport, looks like space junk but there's loads of it so it could be masking any accompanying life forms.' She threw an apologetic glance at Jack, 'it's going to take all of us.'

'OK' Jack nodded, 'Tosh, Owen you are with me.'

Tosh and Owen hurried form the board room to collect their kit and Jack stood to follow them, he hesitated and placed his hand on Ianto's cheek, 'you do believe how much I love you and how important you are to me, don't you? We'll deal with Gwen Cooper together as a team, but you and me, we are still OK, aren't we?'

Ianto smiled at him, 'no way I'd let an evil cow like Gwen Cooper split us up ever again, We are more than OK, Jack and, for future reference, we always will be, no matter what'

Jack smiled with relief, 'will you wait for me'

'Yeah, I'll stay here' Ianto said, 'I can sort out all my London stuff.'

Jack bent and ran his hand tenderly over Ianto's face, 'promise me you will stay away from the vaults' he begged softly.

Ianto dropped a light kiss into Jack's palm, 'Ok, I promise. Go'

As the team trooped out, Ianto made his way up to Jack's office and booted up his computer, he smiled gently as he realized that, in the eight months they had been apart, Jack had not revoked his access codes. He logged himself in and began to send the e-mails that would make his return to Cardiff official.