Jack frowned, watching Ianto attempt to get comfortable on Dr. Singh's chaise lounge. They were back in the treatment room, so Jack had settled himself into one of the chairs. Dr. Singh had taken her own seat across from him, setting her notebook and pen on her knee. Ianto had taken several minutes to find a good position.

Once Ianto had settled onto his back with hands folded over his midsection and his eyes closed, he sighed. "I think I'm ready now."

"Alright, Ianto," Dr. Singh replied, a smile on her face that only Jack could see. "You may have seen this therapy on television, and to be honest it's very similar to how I handle a session. It's not a matter of getting you to do anything you're not comfortable with, but merely a method of allowing me to potentially probe a little deeper into your mind."

Ianto licked his lips but otherwise didn't move. "Will I be aware of what I'm saying?"

"Yes and no. While you'll be able to speak to me and answer my questions, you will be in a sort of trance-like state. Your eyes will remain closed and you will be open to suggestion. In other words, it will be harder for your mind to close off or give a dishonest answer."

Ianto seemed to consider that for a moment. Jack briefly wondered if he was contemplating any secrets he didn't want revealed, and then mentally chastised himself for even thinking of it. First of all, it had only been a matter of months since the accident. There weren't many secrets he could possibly be hiding. And besides that, Jack trusted him. He begrudgingly realized it was only his own insecurities rearing their ugly heads.

"I understand," Ianto finally replied.

"Then we will begin."

The session started with a relaxation technique that, as the doctor had indicated, Jack had seen before on television. Ianto was led to a calm place within his own mind, one where he would feel no pain, and feel completely at ease. Jack had seen similar practices used in later centuries, however the process was nearly instantaneous and required only an electrode strategically placed on the temple. He had to admit, however, that this appeared to work just as well. He chalked the differences up to the desire for instant gratification. It only got worse as the centuries went on.

Once Ianto was completely under, Dr. Singh picked up her pen, poised to write.

"We'll start with some very simple questions. These are baselines, letting us both get a feel for where you are. What is your name?"

"Ianto Jones."

"And do you have any siblings, Ianto?"

"I have a sister named Rhiannon."

"Where do you work, Ianto?"

There was a pause, as if Ianto was trying to decide if he should answer, but Jack knew he wouldn't be able to refuse. It was why they'd chosen Dr. Singh in the first place. They'd needed a doctor they could trust with their secret organization, since Ianto would be under hypnosis and his mind an open door.

"I work for Torchwood."

"And who is your boss at Torchwood?"

"Jack. Jack Harkness." There was a smile, and Jack couldn't help but smile in return.

"You're smiling, Ianto. Does Jack make you smile?"

"Yes, he makes me smile."

"That's good, Ianto. And does he make you happy?"

"Yes he does."

Jack swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. It was one thing to feel the emotions from Ianto, but to hear it almost third person made it seem even more real. And he couldn't help the warmth that spread through his chest.

"Are you close to your sister?" Dr. Singh asked, seeming to change tack.

Ianto frowned. "No."

"Why is that?"

"She doesn't approve of Jack, and she wants to control me."

"Is she an older or younger sister, Ianto?"

"She's older by a few years."

"How about your parents, are they alive?"

"No. They're both dead."

"Okay, and did your sister take care of you after they passed away?"

There was another pause, and Ianto's fingers wrung together. "After my mum died, my sister moved away. My father died quite a few years later."

So far this was all information Jack had provided to Ianto after his accident, to give him a base to start from. Nothing out of the ordinary yet. And of course, up until the point they'd discussed Ianto's parents, Dr. Singh had been privy to the information as well.

"How did your mum die, Ianto?"

"She…became ill."

"What kind of ill?"

The fingers wrung together again. "Mentally ill. She died in hospital."

"A mental hospital? Which one?"

"Providence Park."

"I see." Dr. Singh scratched out another note. "And your father, Ianto, how did he die?"

"He drank himself to death."

Jack swallowed again, but this time because his throat was thick with held back tears. Watching Ianto spill his soul was much more trying on him than he'd expected. Sure, he'd heard all of this information before, however it was in bits and pieces. Ianto never opened up this way. He never emptied out his entire life story all at once. He was far too reserved for that. He couldn't imagine how Ianto was feeling.

Dr. Singh seemed to know it was time to pull back a little. "Before they passed away, did you have a good family life?"

"It was okay. My mum was lovely and my father…he…was a little hard on me."

Jack frowned, trying to remember exactly what Ianto had told him of his childhood. Not much, that was for certain. And Jack had told even less of it back to him after the accident. Just the basics.

"How was he hard on you, Ianto?"

"He wanted me to play the rugby. I loved rugby, but I was very scrawny. Always got hurt."

"And in school, how did you do there?"

"I got passing marks, but nothing fancy."

"How did your father feel about that?"

Ianto's hands were wringing together again and he was scowling. "I brought home a poor mark once. Tad slapped me so hard my ears were ringing. He told me no son of his was going to be a failure."

Both of Jack's eyebrows shot up his forehead and his mouth fell open in silent shock. This wasn't information Ianto had learned after the accident. Jack hadn't known anything about it. He'd assumed Ianto's childhood wasn't good based on how little Ianto had ever shared with him, and the Welshman had once mentioned an accident in the park, but no details, and nothing like this.

It wasn't even in his file, as Ianto had made sure that contained as little about his personal life as possible before he'd joined Torchwood One. There was barely even a mention of Lisa, and her death had been noted by Owen. No details. These were memories, memories Ianto hadn't recovered, until now. Jack wanted to have the doctor bring Ianto out of his trance. She'd done it. His amnesia was gone.

Dr. Singh, however, was still taking notes, and didn't look over at Jack. He wasn't sure if she wasn't aware she'd already broken through the barrier into Ianto's past, or if she did know and was simply an expert at remaining composed. He had to assume it was the latter. But why continue the session?

"Did your father hit you often, Ianto?"

"Yes."

"You said the one time was for a poor mark. When else did he hit you?"

"If I didn't get dinner on the table before he got home. Or if it was too cold because he took longer than expected. He would sometimes get home very late after he'd been at the pub."

"Did you ever tell anyone, Ianto? When you were younger?"

"I told Rhiannon."

"And how did she react?"

"She didn't believe me," Ianto replied. "She told me I was just trying to get attention."

"Did she see any bruises on you?"

"No. She was never around when Tad hit me, and he made sure that any real bruises were where no one could see them. She was already moved out before it got that bad."

Jack had let the tears he'd been suppressing fall silently down his cheeks. What he was hearing was enough to break his heart. He now had no doubts about why Ianto hadn't told him details of his childhood. It was much rougher than even Jack had expected. He'd figured they'd not had much money, living on the estate, and he'd known Ianto didn't have a good relationship with his father after his mother died, but he'd had no idea the man was this abusive.

"Did you ever tell anyone else?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"I knew they wouldn't believe me. Rhiannon didn't. And Tad said no one would believe me over him."

"How long did you stay at home once your mother passed away?"

"I was twelve when it happened, and I moved to London when I was seventeen."

"To go to University?"

"Yes, initially. But then I was recruited by Torchwood."

"And you've worked there ever since?"

"I moved to Torchwood Cardiff after several years, but yes."

"Did you talk to your father after you moved away?"

"No. I tried, at first, but he only told me how ungrateful I was, what a disappointment I'd become, and so I stopped ringing him."

"Did you keep in touch with your sister?"

"Off and on. She had my nephew and a few years later my niece and she was very busy taking care of them. And her husband. She was the one to tell me when Tad passed away."

"You said she later wanted to control you. Did she act that way while you were in London?"

"Yes."

"What about when you were younger and both living at home?"

Ianto bit his lip. "Yes."

"How did she try to control you when you were living at home together?"

"She made me do her chores. And I had to lie to our father when she was with her boyfriends."

"Did she go out with different boys?"

"Yes. Until she met Johnny."

"And Johnny is her husband?"

"Yes."

"Where did she go with these boys, and why did she have you lie for her?"

"Sometimes they would go to a pub. They were usually older than her, so one got her a fake ID to use until she turned eighteen. Sometimes they would stay at home and fool around."

"How old were you when she started bringing these boys home, Ianto?"

"It was before Mum died, when she'd been at hospital for a short while, so I was ten."

"And how old was she?"

"Fifteen."

"And these boys, you said they were older? How much older?"

"Usually eighteen or nineteen. But," he paused for a moment, swallowing deeply, "one of them was in his twenties."

Jack wiped at his face and shook his head. In his twenties, messing around with a girl who wasn't even yet legal. That disgusted him. He couldn't imagine what he would have done if that had been Alice and he'd caught the boy. Man, he corrected himself. And that was a lie. He knew exactly what he'd have done. And it wouldn't have been pretty.

"You seem upset about that particular boyfriend, Ianto. Are you upset?"

Ianto's hands were twisting around each other so much Jack was afraid the Welshman might actually hurt himself. He could see how tense the man had become, and if he wasn't mistaken the corners of his eyes were damp. Yes, there was a tear now, making its way down his face. Jack's heart ached and he wanted to hold him.

"Yes."

"Why are you upset about him, Ianto?"

"I…he…"

"Go ahead, Ianto. Tell me what happened. Did he physically hurt your sister?"

"No. No, he didn't."

"Did he mentally hurt her? Was he psychologically abusive toward her?"

"No."

"Was he abusive toward you?"

Another moment of silence and then Ianto's face crumpled. Jack started to stand up but Dr. Singh gave him a sharp shake of the head, holding up her hand to stop him. He took a deep breath and sat back down, every nerve in his body on alert because of the pain written all over Ianto's face.

"Yes."

Dr. Singh put her hand back down and clutched her pad of paper firmly, pen poised to write. "What happened, Ianto? How did he hurt you?"

Ianto was now curling into a tight ball on his side, arms wrapped around his knees and tears sliding down his face. Jack thought he looked like a little boy, and the urge to hold him only became that much stronger. He'd been ten. What did this boyfriend…this man…do to that little ten year old?

"He...he made me…"

"Take your time, Ianto. It's okay. You're safe here."

"He touched me."

Jack's eyes widened. Oh God. No. Not Ianto.

"He touched you where?"

"Everywhere."

"When did this start, Ianto?"

"A few months after he…started dating my sister."

"Was it in your house?"

Ianto sniffled and his chin trembled. "Yes. In my room."

"And where was your sister?"

"In her room."

"Was this at night?"

"Yes."

"And your father? Where was he?"

"He usually went back out to…to the pub. After dinner."

"Was your sister asleep?"

"Yes. Tad wasn't…home yet."

Ianto was now trembling from head to toe, and Jack wasn't faring much better. He knew what was coming. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to believe that this could have happened to his Ianto. He closed his eyes, for a moment, not able to watch the torment crossing Ianto's features. He opened them a moment later when Ianto choked out a sob.

"Did he touch you inappropriately?"

"Y-yes."

"Did he make you touch him inappropriately?"

"Yes. I didn't want to."

"I know, Ianto. And it wasn't your fault. He was a grown man and you were just a little boy."

"H-he said I made him want me."

Jack wanted to throw up. More than that, he wanted to find the man that had done this to Ianto and kill him.

"That's not true, Ianto. It was he who was in the wrong, not you. He knew better."

Ianto just cried, folding in on himself even more, if that were possible. Jack hadn't seen the man this torn up since…ever, he realized. Yes, he was crying when Lisa had to be killed, but not like this. This was…different. This was awful.

"Ianto, I know this is difficult. I know you're hurting, remembering all this. I don't think you remembered this happened until right now. But I need you to tell me. Did he have intercourse with you?"

Another sob, and in between trembling breaths Ianto managed to say, "Yes."

Jack gripped the arms of his chair so hard he thought for sure they'd break. He must have made a noise as Dr. Singh looked over at him, face a picture of complete worry and eyes extremely sad. He realized then that this was almost as hard for her to hear as it was for him, even though she was the professional and he was the one in the relationship with Ianto.

She nodded at him, and put her pad and paper down on the table between the chairs. Leaning forward, she placed her hands firmly on her knees and took a deep breath.

"Okay, Ianto. I'm going to bring you out of this trance now, but I want you to be aware you're going to feel two distinct emotions. One is going to be a tremendous feeling of relief at having regained your memories from before the accident, but the other is going to be one of almost total confusion for a moment, as you reconcile what we've discussed here today with what you've known for several months, and what you previously thought you knew."

Ianto was still trembling but he seemed relieved he wasn't going to have to answer any more questions and he was slowly regaining his breath. By the time Dr. Singh was ready to bring him back to the surface, he'd relaxed and was laying down flat again, arms once again folded over his stomach. Jack didn't understand how it all worked, but he was glad to see the Welshman was no longer in a state of almost complete despair. His heart couldn't take it.

When Ianto was told to open his eyes, however, Jack held his breath. For a moment, Ianto's face broke out into a smile and he sat up, looking between the doctor and Jack with almost childish glee.

"Jack! I remember! I remember, Jack!"

Jack looked to Dr. Singh and she gave him a small smile and nod. He wasted no time in getting to his feet, taking the few strides needed to get to Ianto's side and sitting down beside him.

"That's fantastic, Ianto." He pulled the Welshman into his arms and planted a kiss on the top of his head. And he waited. It didn't take more than a minute or so.

"J-Jack?" The voice was unsure, shaky, and Ianto pulled back from him so their eyes could meet. His face fell. "Jack. Oh God. Oh God, Jack, no. No!"

Jack tugged him back into his arms and held him tight, looking over his shoulder at the doctor. She got to her feet, giving him a sympathetic look, and made her way to the door.

"I'll be right outside. Come get me when you're both ready."

He nodded at her and barely heard the door click shut behind her before he was burying his face in Ianto's neck and matching him tear for tear.

TBC…