Ianto was moving around the Hub going about his evening routine. It was Thursday and he'd let Myfanwy out for her weekly night of exercise. She would return on her own in the morning. He'd fed Janet and the other resident Weevils. He had set the rift alert to go to Jack's wrist strap and was now busy powering down the Hub, putting it into night mode.

"Yan? Where's Will?" Jack asked his lover as he crossed the main Hub walkway.

"Taking a leaf out of your book," Ianto said jerking his head upwards. "She's on the roof."

"Will's on the roof?" Jack repeated incredulously as he moved towards the stairs to head after her.

"Jack, leave her be," Ianto said, putting a restraining hand on his lover to stop him.

"She hates heights," Jack said, turning his gaze upwards to the Hub's ceiling high above them.

"She wants to be alone for a bit," Ianto said with a sigh. "She loved her very much."

A strange look came over Jack's face. "Enough to leave her…"

Ianto gave Jack a stern look. He could see where his lover was going with this. He said angrily, "Don't start, Jack."

"What?"

"That. Going all maudlin and broody about how I'd be better off away from Torchwood and away from you."

"Did I say anything?" Jack said a little defensively.

"No, you didn't, but I know that look on your face. We've had this discussion," Ianto said sternly and then waved his hand around the Hub. "Being here is my choice."

"Yan-"

"NO, JACK!" Ianto shouted feeling his temper rise. "You and Mandy both need to stop treating me and every other mortal you meet like we're lost children. I want to be here. At Torchwood. With you."

"Even if it means you'll die?"

"I'll die anyway, Jack," Ianto said defiantly, "with or without Torchwood."

Jack flinched at the words.

Ianto cupped Jack's face in his hands. "I'm sorry, but it's true. We both know it. I know we ignore it. We don't talk about it. But it's going to happen, Jack."

Jack clutched at Ianto's face with his own hands, pulling his lover's forehead against his own. "Not yet."

"Not yet," Ianto echoed.

"I love you," Jack replied, his voice shaky.

"I love you too."

The two men stood there in the middle of the Hub, their foreheads touching, their arms wrapped around each other for some time. It was Ianto who broke the embrace, taking a step backward.

"She's been up there long enough. Go to her," Ianto said to him with a knowing glance.

"Yan-"

"She shouldn't be alone tonight, Jack," Ianto said firmly.

Jack didn't miss what his lover was implying. When Miranda had joined Torchwood, the two men had had a long discussion about whether or not to extend her an invitation to their bed. They had both agreed they would enjoy bringing her into their bed, together or separately, but they had decided against it. The subject had been closed and this was the first time in three years it had been brought up again.

Jack furrowed his brow in confusion. "We agreed-"

"I know what we agreed. Things are different, now."

"How?"

Ianto sighed. "I love her, Jack. She's my friend and I love her."

Jack nodded and said, "She'll think she's coming between us."

"I know."

"She's going to say no," Jack said, furrowing his brow. "It'll offend her sense of personal honour."

"Maybe but it doesn't change the fact that she shouldn't be alone tonight." Ianto turned his gaze upwards. "She's spent too much of her life alone."