Author's Notes: Well. I'm trying to pick up after the mess I've made. I'm sorry, my mind is just doing whatever it pleases. Now, though, I'm back to barely-paying-attention-to-the prompt sort of chapter and... I'm sort of satisfied with how this chapter turned out and I hope you will be, too.

Day Fifteen: Making Out

As they made their way back to the TARDIS, Jack had to practically keep Ianto up to stop him from losing his balance. The Doctor and River were a few feet away behind them and looked perfectly fine, and Jack couldn't be sure if they hadn't drank anything or if Ianto's inability to hold his liquor had transferred to his Time Lord body, too.

"Jack," Ianto moaned. "I think I might be sick."

"And I think you might be drunk," Jack muttered as he hooked an arm around Ianto's shoulders. "Wait until we get back indoors, eh? From the impression I've got from these people, it might be an offence from a death-penalty range if you throw up in the king's gardens.

Ianto nodded solemnly, then seemed to pick up the first part of Jack' words and frowned. "I'm not drunk."

"You sure about that?"

Another nod. "Time Lords don't get drunk. It's because of the two hearts. The blood goes faster."

The blood goes faster. Not drunk at all, then.

"Ianto, what have we said about you drinking anything stronger than beer?"

"Never again?"

"Precisely." The only two times Jack had seen Ianto drunk had both ended tragically. The first one had been on their annual Christmas party and Ianto had thrown up over a Weevil. The second time they'd been tied to trees on the beach during an alien invasion and he'd promptly fallen asleep minutes after that. Jack didn't want a repetition of any of these cases, no matter how cute Ianto was when he was drunk.

"We were talking about rum then," Ianto said pensively. "And that here was..." he sighed. "I have no idea, really."

Ah, here they were. Jack opened the door of the TARDIS and they walked in as the ship's warm, pulsing lights welcomed them. Ianto suddenly perked up and, if that was the Old Girl helping, then Jack was immensely grateful for it.

"Bed?" Ianto asked hesitantly as he leaned again one of the rails. "The room's started going round and round. You see?" Oh, so that's how it worked. With Time Lords, it was everything at once – plus the hangover, probably – and then they just stopped being drunk as if there was a switch. He was pretty sure that for Ianto, the room was really turning about. "We might get the Doctor to look it up," he said, trying hard not to laugh. "I'm all for going to bed, by the way."

Once they had managed to find their room – with the TARDIS moving it closer for convenience, Jack noticed – Ianto didn't even wait for Jack to take off his boots before he pulled him closer and kissed him. He tasted of several alien beverages and something that resembled honey and Jack found himself responding, even though he knew it was a bad idea. Ianto wasn't exactly himself right now, but ever since the Doctor had brought Ianto on the TARDIS several weeks ago, it had all been chaste kisses and hugs and cuddles and, as enjoyable as that could be, Jack craved for something more.

Ianto's kiss was hard and insistent and his arms roamed down Jack's back to press them even closer together as he turned them around in a surprising display of balance and pulled the Captain down on the bed with him.

"You've been holding back on me," Jack said with a breathless laugh as he found himself on his back with Ianto over him, now pressing butterfly kisses down Jack's checks and his neck.

"I didn't want to scare you off," Ianto mumbled, his voice so quiet that Jack could have missed it had it not been the complete silence around them.

"What?" The Captain asked softly, popping up on his elbows. "Why would you scare me off?"

Ianto lifted his head. His face was flushed and his eyes were dark and yet, there was some sort of franticness about him that Jack couldn't quite understand. "I can feel what you feel, Jack. I can feel what anybody feels if I try. And you..." Ianto's eyes started wandering around the room and finally went back on Jack's face. "You want him back. Your Ianto. The human version. And I'm not that, no matter how hard I try. You miss him and I'm not enough to do the trick. I'm sorry." Jack tried to speak, but Ianto just went on. "I wanted to give you room to breathe for a while if you needed it. I won't say that what happened out there" he gestured vaguely and Jack supposed that he meant the palace, "was some form of altruism, because it wasn't. It really bloody wasn't. But, Jack," his voice wavered and his eyes were shining on the faint light from the incessantly burning candle on the nightstand. "Even though you didn't know it at the time, you've spend more time with me than with the human Ianto. Just as we grew closer, I was coping with the fact that most of the people I've thought I've known were just a cover story made up by my parents and little else. You were one of the few people that turned out to be real and... Now that we're here and when you know that nothing can actually kill me, I thought you might need to put this right in your mind."

On a second thought, maybe he had to get Ianto drunk more often. He was brutally honest, but at least he spilled everything out. "You don't scare me, Ianto. Not with what you are; you scare me on daily basis ever since I've known you for millions other reasons – because I'm afraid you'll get yourself killed, because I'm afraid of the effect it would have – it already did have – on me if you do, and so many things you can't even think of because your mind just doesn't work like that. But I will never, ever be scared of you, do you understand that?" Ianto nodded, averting his eyes. "I don't want you to give me space to breathe. And you were right back there, I am a hypocrite for not wanting to put up with what I made you put up with before. You have every right to do whatever you want with whoever you want. It's just– you seem so comfortable with both River and the Doctor. And a Time Lord has once said to me that he thought my whole existence felt generally wrong to him, so... how could I be sure that it doesn't feel the same way for you?"

"Are you kidding?" Ianto asked immediately, looking at Jack as if he had lost his mind. "You? Wrong?" Ianto gave a small laugh of disbelief and buried his head in the Captain's shoulder so Jack could feel his words rather than actually hear them. "Jack, I can feel the Universe; see it and feel it every waking minute of the day. And it's amazing, but it also hurts. Because it's so much. And it goes so fast. I can see everything that has ever happened or is happening, could or will happen, and sometimes they're all the same thing and on some days, it feels like I could go insane just by thinking." He looked up and touched Jack's face; the cold delicate fingers stroking his cheek gently. Jack closed his eyes under the caress as Ianto went on. "But when I touch you, it's like everything stops. The whole Universe goes quiet and I can finally hear myself; can hear you. It's not wrong, it's amazing." Ianto's eyes were clearer now and he seemed to be sobering up, but he went back to pressing small, haphazard kisses over Jack's face and for some reason, it felt like an afterthought to what he'd previously said.

Jack didn't want to break the silence, but he couldn't help himself. He just had to know. "Then why didn't you say so?"

"I told you. Because I was afraid." There was a moment in which Ianto apparently weighed his words in his mouth and picked them up carefully. "In the House of the Death, you said that you loved me, but I couldn't be sure if it still stands. Jack, you don't even know my name!"

"Do you know mine?" Jack shot back immediately and Ianto raised his eyebrows.

"No?" He replied, more of a question than a statement.

"And does it matter?" He didn't give his lover the chance to speak. "Does it stop you from loving me?" It wasn't a rhetorical question this time and he honestly needed an answer, so he let Ianto think it through.

"Of course not. You've told me a name and if that's who you believe yourself to be, then that's enough." Jack stared at him and Ianto's lips suddenly opened into a small smile. "Oh."

"Oh," Jack echoed in agreement, feeling himself responding to the smile. "That's pretty much enough for me too."