"Gah!" Ianto let out, jumping back into Jack's arms who hugged him even closer. Jack was laying with his feet on the coffee table, his right arm on the armrest and his left around Ianto, with his head on a cushion. Ianto, however, was now resting his head onto Jack's lap, his arms around Jack. He felt safety here; reassurance. Ianto had always been a sucker for scary movies, and that had been the selection for the evening. Both of their extremely well cooked dinners, a classic Fish n' Chips with a Ianto spin on them, had already been finished.

"You okay?" Jack whispered down to Ianto. He didn't hear a response, but he saw and felt Ianto's head nodding, to which Jack let out a small laugh. He had nodded his head right around the pelvis, one of the most ticklish places on Jack.

Ianto giggled when he realized he had the power to make Jack squirm simply by nodding his head and did it again, more this time, on purpose.

"Stop it!" Jack laughed, before he retaliated on Ianto's side. Ianto sprang up, laughing, and put his hands into straight karate-chop ready positions, still laughing.

"Hey! I'm going to get lonely and cold over here by myself!" Jack invited. The movie was still running, and he added "Plus, I could get really scared and need you near me." To which Ianto hesitated before crawling himself back into Jack's arms. Jack kissed the top of his head from his position, and cuddled back into Ianto.

I'm content with any scary movie as long as I'm with Jack. Ianto thought. Strange, normally I can't handle them no matter what. He lifted his head all the way to get a look at Jack's beautiful face that looked back down at him.

"Oh…" Ianto let out unknowingly. Jack used his strength to pull Ianto up higher, and planted a kiss right onto his lips. His right hand came off of the couch's armrest and right to cupping Ianto's face as the kiss became more passionate.

"Are you sure there's no sex tonight?" Ianto asked Jack dreamily, his eyes still closed. Jack had noticed a few twitches coming from Ianto's crotch that was pressed onto him.

"I'm not sure about anything, but we could always just start with some passionate kissing…"

"Yeah," Was all Ianto could muster. In the split second after that sentence, both of them knew exactly what to do. Ianto sprang up, Jack grabbed the remote and turned off the television, and followed Ianto into the bedroom.

Later that night…

The clock read 11:48pm. The side lamp was still on, dimly lighting the room. Jack and Ianto were under the covers from their waist down, but their shirtless chests were in full view. The two were canoodling with each other; kissing, laughing, cuddling and hair ruffling, but no sex, much to Ianto's dismay.

"We should really," There was a kiss. "Get ourselves," Another. "Ready for bed," He squeezed out in a 3 part sentence.

"Yeah," Was all Jack answered with. The two continued on, knowing they did indeed have to get themselves ready for bed, but not wanting to ruin such a perfect and indescribable moment. Finally, moments after Ianto's suggestion, Jack finally sighed and heaved himself up.

"Come on, you," Ianto groaned at Jack's invitation, but proceeded. The two got out of bed, revealing they were in fact clothed from the waist down, as to be expected were both fully erect. They laughed their way to the bathroom where they washed up for the night, and changed into their pajamas.

"I might as well move in with all of this action going on in your apartment," Jack said rhetorically. But, Ianto hesitated and looked up.

"Do you think so?" He questioned, taking Jack's statement as a genuine one.

"Oh…Ianto…I was just playing around," Jack began. Ianto looked a bit hurt and looked away back to the mirror. "It's not that I don't want to," Jack scrambled to fix the situation. "But I just didn't know if you wanted to take that step yet. I know we've been seeing each other on and off for a while, but we only just started…you know…dating."

Ianto nodded. "The invitation is open for you whenever you want it." Was all he replied with, and that was the last of the talking on the subject for the night. The two crawled back into bed, Ianto nuzzled his head into Jack's arm, and wrapped his two legs around Jack's one.

"Jack?"

"Yes, Ianto?"

"I love you."

"I know. I love you too." Jack kissed the top of Ianto's head. Ianto's heart jumped at Jack's reply. He was loved. Ianto was at peace now, able to fall asleep and let the stress melt away.

Ianto let his mind wander. He became hypnotized by the sound of Jack's heartbeat, thumping at precise intervals every time like clockwork. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Ianto's mind drifted farther and farther into the universe. Thump thump. Thump…thump. Thump…thump. Jack's heart was beginning to slow down as he too was falling asleep. It was a change Ianto barely noticed, as his eyes fluttered shut and he drifted to sleep.

Later…

Jack was startled. He opened his eyes and took the atmosphere in. The first thing he noticed was that it was still dark. He peered to the clock on the stand, which read 3:48am. Jack was about to shrug it off, as he re-shifted positions in bed to return to his slumber, until he heard something. He hesitated, not moving a single inch from his current position. Silence rang out in his ears until he heard it again; a soft clamp of a rubber sole hitting the hardwood floors in the apartment.

Jacks heart began to beat faster. He heard more now; the clamping was soft but definitely distinguishable. He heard the quiet shifting in objects in the apartment.

"Holy shite, there someone in the apartment trying to steal from Ianto," Was the single thought racing through Jack's mind.

He patted Ianto as softly and as quiet as he could, waking him and clamping his hand over Ianto's mouth before he questioned why he had awakened him. Ianto looked up at him, puzzled by why he had been awoken. Jack used his other hand and patted his ear; Listen.

Ianto listened, eyes drifting around the room until he heard it too. His eyes widened and he slowly began to move to his Torchwood standard issue gun on his dresser, as Jack began to slowly get out of bed himself. He intended to get to the door, currently slightly ajar, and lock it, giving them time to call the police and scare the intruder away.

Before Ianto could reach the gun and Jack could get out of bed, the intruder came barreling through the door and pointed the gun straight at Jack.

"Don't you dare move!" He shouted at Jack and Ianto. Neither of them listened.

Jack instinctively lunged straight for the intruder, hoping to make it there in time as Ianto broke for the gun. Ianto shouted and ducked to behind his side of the bed as he heard a gunshot, and a body hit the floor. He was now positioned with the bed in between him and the shooter, but he turned to view under the bed to the other side.

What he saw almost stopped his heart. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to die.

On the other side of the bed lying on the ground was Jack's lifeless body, a bullet in the chest, staring back at Ianto with now cold, dark eyes.