The next day, Ianto woke up with Jack next to him and didn't think about anything else than the hot trail of kisses Jack was leaving on his skin.

When they got to the Hub however, he remembered the alien and what it had said, and Ianto knew he wouldn't stop thinking about it until he had answers.

They transferred it together to the interrogation room, waiting for the others to arrive to the Hub, but Ianto couldn't quite tell Jack that he needed a moment alone with the alien, could he?

Instead, he brewed some coffee, took a pile of paperwork Jack had returned, sticking a note on the top with a sad emoticon written down it, and made his way to Jack's office. Jack smiled at the coffee and pouted at the work.

"Those need your signature, you signed only the first one."

"You know how to do my signature, Ianto," Jack said with the voice of a child having a tantrum.

"And I have a job. You do it, or no more coffee," Ianto sighed, answering as a parent. Sometimes he wondered who was the one-hundred-or-so-year-old time-traveller in their relationship.

"Mmh... do I get a kiss?"

"Before or after hand?"

"Both?"

"Okay," Ianto rolled his eyes and leaned over the table to kiss Jack.

When Jack pressed his tongue against Ianto's closed lips, Ianto smiled and only parted them to nibble Jack's bottom lip. Jack moaned, and Ianto pulled back and shook his head.

"More after?" Jack asked, slightly flushed, which made Ianto quite proud.

"If you're lucky enough," Ianto winked at him and left the office, putting a bit on a show, knowing Jack was shamelessly looking at his lower back as he walked away.

Ianto smiled for himself and typed away something on one of the computer then put back on a professional mask. He had a few minutes before Tosh arrived, hopefully, and Jack was buried in work. It was his chance. He nervously straightened his tie and took a deep breath before opening the door.

He tried not to jog down the stairs, but put a bit too abruptly the file and pen he was holding down the table. He sat and looked at the alien who blinked and looked at him, before grinning – it definitely was a grin.

"Does your offer still stand?" Ianto asked bluntly.

The alien nodded, "you set me free and I'll tell you how to make him mortal."

"Or," Ianto grinned, his stare neutral, and he knew he looked creepy like this. "You tell me how, and I convince them not to kill you."

"You've changed. Aliens talk. We know about Torchwood. We know you don't kill any more."

"Oh, don't we now?" Ianto asked and leaned a bit over the table. "There are worse things than death," he whispered. Then he slumped back against the back if his chair and opened his file. He almost threw the thirteen pictures it contained in front of the alien.

"You've killed twelve humans and an alien in the span of two years. Did you think you'd walk out of Torchwood alive?"

He saw that the alien was totally falling into his trap and smiled inwardly. It was almost too easy.

"So you tell me, and I'll help your case."

The alien gulped – a very human sound this time – and looked around.

"B22102006," it muttered.

Ianto froze. He quickly snapped back to reality and wrote down the number, knowing exactly what it meant.

"How could you know the number?" he asked, his heart pounding against his chest.

"I crashed that day."

"How do you use it?" Ianto asked.

"Ianto?" Jack's voice said. "What are you doing here? Get back up, we've lost sound."

Ianto swore and raised a hand, whatever that meant. He looked at the alien and took a deep breath.

"I don't know," the alien grinned, then laughed.

Ianto clenched his fists and stood up, looking at the glass where Jack was staring down at him worriedly, ready to go in. He looked away and slowly walked up the stairs.

"Whatever you take, you must give back," the alien said and Ianto froze. "If he becomes mortal, then someone has to..."

"Then I become immortal," Ianto finished for him.

The alien nodded and laughed again and Ianto slammed the door behind him. Jack was at his side instantly.

"Are you okay? Ianto, why did you go in there? Why didn't you warn anyone? Ianto you're livid, what did it say?"

Ianto cut him off by kissing him, unable to answer any question and wanting, needing to feel something. To feel Jack.

He could save him. He could, but he had to sacrifice himself for this.

A cough cut him, both in his thoughts and his kiss. He pursed his lips and stepped away, looking at Tosh with a small smile.

"Sorry," he mouthed. She just shook her head, smiling.

Ianto fled to the kitchen to brew more coffee but as expected, Jack followed him.

"What was that?" Jack asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Which part, Sir?" Ianto asked, turning his back to Jack.

"Well, both. Not that I'm complaining about you snogging me," Jack said and Ianto could tell he was hiding worry behind a grin.

"I don't know," Ianto sighed. "I... didn't get enough sleep last night."

Jack scoffed and stepped closer to put his arms around Ianto's waist.

"Fine," he whispered. "But if you want to tell me, I'm here," he added with a kiss to Ianto's nape.

"... Thanks," Ianto eventually chose to answer.

They stayed still for a moment, Jack not letting go of Ianto. He finally took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Right, I should get back to paperwork... I'm not even half-way through it."

"That's not much, Sir," Ianto turned and smiled.

Jack pouted and stepped closer once more to peck Ianto's lips.

"I thought I told you after," Ianto frowned, managing to keep a straight face.

"Well, what can I say? You're irresistible."

When he turned and walked away, Ianto could hear his laugh and smiled despite himself, shaking his head to resume what he had wanted to do: bring coffee to Tosh.

He quickly put three mugs on a tray and made his way downstairs, silently putting a mug on Tosh's desk, then Jack, and Gwen, who shouldn't be long now.

"Ianto," Tosh called as he was gathering some leftovers Jack and he had decided to ignore in order to go home and get some sleep.

"Yup?"

"Did you get anything from the alien?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, what did you talk about then?"

"Nothing," Ianto shrugged. "I was just trying to scare him off, I think."

"That's a very dumb move," Tosh frowned.

"Well. Yeah. Maybe he'll be more willing to talk to Jack now," Ianto smiled.

Tosh shook her head but before she could add anything, Gwen walked in. Ianto looked at his watch and smiled. Her coffee was still warm, just how she liked it in the morning.

Of course, it didn't work everyday. Sometimes she was late or stopped somewhere. On rarer occasion she came in earlier. Owen was late, no matter what. But he was often the last to leave, if one was injured. And everyone knew he didn't go straight home when he was done with his job.
Well, before his whole dead-but-not-totally situation, at least. He still was last to come, though. But Ianto didn't need to brew coffee for him any more.

Sighing, Ianto shook his head and informed Jack that he would be in the archives. He left the main area, greeted Owen who was walking in, and went to the archives, immediately going to the system to do research on the 2006 artefacts that had come. He quickly found the three artefacts from October, 22th and pulled up the file from the second one. He smiled when he noticed the artefact was close and quickly made his way to the high rack at the very left of the room.

He took one of the boxes from the bottom shelf with the reference "B22102006" written on it and put it down on the nearest table.

He careful opened the box and took the wrapped artefact out. He looked at it for a long time. It looked like a perfect rock for ricochets, but thicker. It also wasn't stone, but a surprisingly soft material, considering how heavy it was. The artefact felt cold when Ianto touched it but instantly warmed up at the contact of his skin. He took a deep breath and pushed the only button on it, almost dropping it when a hologram appeared in front of him.

He frowned at what seemed to be a puzzle and raised his hand to touch it. Of course, his hand only went through it. Ianto sighed and tried to have a better view of the puzzle. As he moved, the puzzle moved and two pieces clicked together. Ianto dropped the artefact back in the box when he felt something opening inside. He closed the box quickly and let out a deep breath. What was he doing?

"Busy?" A voice said behind Ianto and he jumped and swirled, protectively hiding the box behind him. "You know you're acting really weirdly, right?" Jack frowned.

Ianto sighed but didn't relax and stepped away.

"Just doing some digging on unknown artefacts. Know anything about this?" Ianto asked casually, leaning again the table and crossing his arms to hide the fact that he was shaking

"Not really," Jack said, walking to Ianto and opening the box. He took the artefact and Ianto drew in a shaky breath, but nothing happened. "Rather cold, and no matter how many times I push the button, it never does anything." He demonstrated by pressing the button.

"Wait! What if it is dangerous?"

"Impossible," Jack smiled, playing with the artefact, throwing it and catching it. "Tosh ran every tests we could think of. This thing is definitely harmless. However, we picked up a living form inside. We tried to open it, but..." Jack trailed off, shrugging to show they'd had no luck with that.

Ianto nodded, and looked at Jack playing with the artefact a bit more before putting it back in the box.

"And we have no idea what it does, but at least it's safe," Jack grinned and closed the box.

He turned and put his hands on Ianto's hips.

"Jack?"

"Now, I was hoping to get some alone time with you, if you're not too busy..." Jack said in a low voice, pulling Ianto closer with a wicked smile.

"Ooh, what for? I hope it involves a nice fancy restaurant," Ianto answered in an even voice, even when Jack's hands sneaked beneath his shirt. "I'm not an easy man, you know."

"I'm sure we'll find something... satisfying for you," Jack whispered in his neck before kissing the skin there. Ianto drew in a shaky breath. "Something that fits you."

"And you know a place like this?" Ianto was trying hard to ignore Jack's hands on his skin and Jack's lips on his skin, and Jack's entire body pressed against his, but his voice shook a little and he was starting to have trouble breathing normally. When Jack's teeth met his skin, he moaned.

"I'm pretty sure I do," Jack whispered, as equally losing control.

Ianto pushed him away from his neck only to stare at his eyes. He was about to kiss him but frowned.

"Did you finish your paperwork?"

"I wouldn't have come otherwise," Jack smiled and leaned on, almost silently begging Ianto to kiss him.

"We'll talk about you coming later."

Jack was about to laugh, but Ianto finally kissed him and Jack lost his words, responding eagerly to the kiss instead.

I'm almost done with this fic (there are 6 chapters) and I hope you guys will enjoy this! Yes, not much happened, but soon ;)

Don't hesitate to leave a review, that's what encourage us writers!