A/N: my most sincere apologies for the delay in this. I'm not so happy with this chapter but I didn't want to wait any longer.

Is it bad when the lights went out all I could think about was stealing a moment alone with Jack? I thought for sure when I called him 'Captain' instead of 'sir' he would have made a comment, but then being locked in the hub when it wasn't planned was never a good thing. Ianto mused while he worked to get his cell phone operational. The tension he had felt when he turned around to look up at Jack surprised even him. The moment passed as quickly as it came but it did make him stall a bit in his reply to Jack that he didn't know what caused the shut down.

Is it bad when the lights went out my first thought was of Ianto? Nah, he knew pretty much everything about this hub, it was only natural I should turn to him. When he called me 'captain' and not 'sir' though, I filed away the moment for later reflection. It was nice being called captain by him. Jack mused in a flash as he worked on a way to reverse the lock down. His mind seemed a bit sluggish though and was being decidedly unhelpful by supplying all sorts of lewd images of things one could do with a certain Welshman alone in the dark.

"I've got reception sir" Ianto announces and Jack bounds over to him. If he could see how inwardly I'm grinning like a fool at the moment I would die of embarrassment.

"How did you do that? We're sealed off!" Impressive. This man impresses me. Constantly.

"Just used the Water Tower as a relay." I would brag, but one, I'm not that sort of guy, and two, it's so much cooler to be blasé about it.

I could have kissed him just then. Jack has to drag himself away from the temptation.

He looked like he wanted to kiss me just then. That would have been amazing. Ianto thought as he watched Jack walk away with the phone in his hand. After this is all over I'm going to make sure I have a moment alone with him. Bollocks to waiting.

It was all over. Gwen was fine and Suzie was honestly and truly dead. Writing the report over her body was an easy thing to do; he dealt with dead bodies constantly. Normally Jack would have done this, but Ianto was once again going above and beyond to do things for Jack and not even thinking twice about it. After almost losing Gwen and having to face Suzie again, how could one expect Jack to happily deal with the details? Besides, the sooner this is finished, the sooner he can be alone...with Jack.

Jack's heart felt heavy as he walked to the morgue. Gwen had almost been lost and having Suzie alive again was rattling. He felt depressed at the thought of having to fill out all the paperwork for a second time.

A bit of his sadness lifted when he came across Ianto doing the paper work for him. The others were all fussing over Gwen while the young man was yet again taking care of Torchwood business. Still, it should have been Jack doing it.

All this death, all these plots against us, all this evil…I could use something good right about now

"If you're interested…I've still got that stopwatch"

"So?" Jack was confused, what did his old stopwatch have to do with anything?

"Well, think about it. Lots of things you can do with a stopwatch" Ianto enjoyed the dawning expression on Jack's face.

Before either of them really knew it the countdown was commencing and it was mere minutes before they met in Jack's office.

Jack found it easy to get Tosh, Owen, and especially Gwen to go home for the rest of the day. He did not find it easy however, to stop the smile spreading across his face, or to stop pacing about his office looking for the best position to wait in.

A smile crept across Ianto's face as he made his way out of the morgue. His muscles were sore; he hadn't smiled in what seemed like ages. Not a true smile at least. Apparently his lips loved the motion, his cheeks reveled in the feel and his heart became suddenly lighter and fuller all at once. His muscles did not want to stop smiling. Ianto thought bemusedly they were making up for lost time. Smiling was easy, stopping smiling was becoming difficult.

That's when he saw Jack's office door, and the fight to control himself was damn near lost. Stomach freezing, legs going to wet noodles, and his palms were sweating. All of it, all of these feelings were...

Jack looked towards his office door, only a few seconds left on the countdown. His pulse had quickened, his breathing accelerated, he felt a flash of confusion. In a split second he wondered if he was under the influence of an alien disease, but then he realized what it was, and damn near broke out laughing at himself. He was nervous. He was excited. Him! of all people, he was excited. It made him grin like a fool again. Trying to tame his face into a more neutral visage a thought crossed his mind; all these feelings were...

And both men, simultaneously had the same thought. All their feelings, in this glittering hope filled and anxious moment, were in fact, there was no other word for it...

...Fantastic

A/N: To be continued in the M rated story "Ten Minutes and Counting". Look for it coming soon.

Again I would like to apologize for the serious delay. It was not planned, but life happened. Good life, nice life, happy life happened. It was just a bit much to deal with all at once.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this! I am deeply touched and grateful. Thank you