"Ianto?"
"Sir?"
"You ok?"
"I'm fine."
"You look lost in thought."
Ianto was indeed lost in thought. He sat with his pen in his hand and the report closed in front of him; his eyes lost in the depths of the dark wooden conference table. "mmm" came his affirmative reply.
"Anything I can help with?" Jack leaned forward to ask which caused Ianto to blink his eyes and focus on the man sitting at the head of the table to his right.
When Tosh gave her report to Jack, Ianto had time to reflect while he wrote a flurry of notes.
He lost track of time when he returned to the hub from the chilly evening air after giving his verbal report to Jack. He set about his usual tasks while trying to simultaneously work out a way to help Tosh and wrestle with his emotions. He was brought back to reality and was surprised at the hour when his phone vibrated alerting him to a new text.
They were all briefed on the issue at hand once they were assembled and just barely got out of sight before Tosh, and what was later to be revealed as Mary, entered the hub. There was no real plan and Ianto had for a moment wished there was. That is, until it seemed as though there was some mind reading involved, and then he was relieved they didn't have one after all.
When Mary had the knife, turning things deadly, Ianto felt his heart leap into his throat. Not again he pleaded. No more aliens taking the lives of the people he cared about, right in front of him, right in his hub. No more, please.
Jack seemed to be confident; more confident than normal. He was bluffing, had to have been bluffing. It was going to work though, not many people could tell when Jack was bluffing and Ianto was sure this Mary alien was not the exception.
Tosh ran into his arms and relief flooded through him.
Poor Tosh. He knew partially what she would be going through in the next few days. Learning someone you love has become something else, learning they'll kill you gladly, living with the pain of having to let them go.
A quiet peaceful feeling stole over him as he listened to Tosh's tale in the conference room. A funny thing happened while he sat there; he didn't hurt as much anymore. He didn't feel so alone anymore. In fact he felt as though he were moving past the pain. Seeing Tosh go through something vaguely, very vaguely, similar made him set aside that part in his life. It was Tosh's turn to mourn, not only loosing the illusion of what she had with Mary but also mourning the loss of trust she had with the team; reading their thoughts was not conducive to a trusting environment.
He was able to step forward now. As he hoped Tosh would find someone to care about again he reevaluated his earlier thoughts. Was it too soon to move on?
The report was finished and Tosh had just left. Jack was sitting at the head of the table looking at the door the young woman had just exited through. Ianto sat and stared at the table letting his eyes un-focus. Is it too soon for me to move on?
"Anything I can help with?" the question rang in his ear causing him to come back to the present.
Looking at Jack's slightly worried expression Ianto felt a flutter of excitement run through him. It answered his question for him. It wasn't too soon; not for him. The day's events cemented into his head that life was far too short for a Torchwood operative to wait for anything. It was why they were paid so much; compensation for a shorter life expectancy.
He was ready to move on
...with Jack.
"Anything I can help with?" the words seemed to finally register in his mind, he felt a smile play on his lips as he answered,
"Oh definitely, just not right now."
"No more secrets Ianto"
"Even if it's a good one sir?" Ianto let a cheeky grin graced his lips and Jack furrowed his brow in a mixture of surprise and confusion.
The older man slowly stood, making his way to stand next to Ianto, he half sat against the table with his arms crossed over his chest and looked down at the young man. "Even then."
Ianto was afraid of that. He glanced away trying to sort out what he wanted to say. It was difficult; he wasn't sure this moment was appropriate to come on to his boss. Then again, carpe diem right? He took a moment before he slowly stood to face Jack. "I'm…fine" He said with sincerity and happiness. It wasn't really a come on but his body language and eyes were more than compensating.
Jack looked at him and tilted his head slightly to the side until he realized what Ianto was really saying. "Ya?" he said with just the smallest hint of excitement.
"Yes, I feel…fine." Ianto let a larger smile grace his face for the first time in ages. He noticed how close he was standing to Jack and let his emotions run free, soaking up the delicate feeling of tension brewing between them.
"Good. Then can you put that report on my desk for me? I want to have a few more words with Tosh before she goes home."
Jack pushed off the table and walked out the door before Ianto fully understood what Jack said.
It seemed as though Jack was oblivious for once which confounded Ianto at the same time as it tickled him. When he finally did come on to Jack he would have to be sure to make it pretty forward. Although, I'd rather have some fun with it he thought.
The idea of actually doing anything with Jack still made him nervous; not in a bad way, just in a 'moving into new territory' way. He worried he would be awful at it. Being good in bed with women was one thing, being good in bed with a man was...well, unknown to him. He would just have to make sure to let nature take it's course when the time came.
Now his only problem was being patient waiting for the time when he would have Jack.