Confessions.
Something wasn't right. Ianto could see it by the way he was acting. There was no look on his face, nothing in his eyes and he was actually doing the paperwork that he had been bugging Jack to do for the last few weeks. Jack had something on his mind and it was troubling Jack so troubling Ianto. It was like Jack had lost something and found nothing to replace it. Phoenix wasn't in the hub either though Jack had called him last night to say that Phoenix was up and about, had eaten but was so tired that she needed to sleep. Ianto had half expected to see her when he came into the hub that morning but there was no sign of her.
Ianto stood at the door of Jack's office with Jack's coffee in his hands and watch him. Jack was sat at his desk, the lamp on and the file out in front of him and though it had looked like Jack was writing in the file, Ianto looked closer and Jack wasn't writing. He walked into the office and put the coffee down, Jack didn't even flinch at Ianto's arrival.
"Is everything ok Jack? You don't seem your usual self this morning," Ianto asks him.
"I keep reading the same line over and over again and it still doesn't make sense and I can't get past it," Jack tells Ianto so he walks around the desk to Jack and reads the line that Jack is referring to.
"It makes sense to me but that's not what's wrong is it Jack?" Ianto asks him sitting on the corner of the desk.
"No it isn't Yan. Why is she so stubborn?" Jack asks as he leans back in his chair.
"Phoenix! I take it that the talk didn't go as well as hoped?" Ianto asks him knowing full well that they had had the talk that had be looming.
"The talk went ok Yan. We each told each other how we felt. It's not that. It's something she said afterwards and I'm worried that I can't change her mind. She is so stubborn," Jack only half explains.
"What was it that she said?" Ianto asks now curious as to what she could say to make him this worried.
"I need to tell you something Ianto but it isn't going to be easy," Jack tells him knowing that he needed to be honest with Ianto.
"What is it Jack?" Ianto asks him looking a little worried himself now.
"You know I haven't quiet been right since Phoenix arrived and that my head as been all over the place. Phoenix and I talked last night and laid our cards on the table about how we felt about each other and she told me that she loved me, always had and always will," Jack starts knowing that he was coming to the worst bit.
"We all know that Jack. The whole team knows. We all have eyes," Ianto tells him.
"You know I love you Yan. You know what we have been through to be together and I would do it all again so I could be with you, as a couple," Jack starts and Ianto's face becomes more worried.
"What is it Jack?" Ianto asks fearing the worst.
"I love her Ianto. I have thought about her many times since I thought I had lost her. Seeing her back, alive, has brought all the feelings I had for her back and there are a lot of feelings Yan. I love her and I can't get away from the fact that I do," Jack tells him worried about how he was going to react.
"Is that all Jack? I know you love her, I was waiting for you to figure it out Jack. I have seen the way you look at her, the way you act around her, the way you try and protect her. I probably knew it before you did Jack," Ianto tells him with a smile.
"You mean that you aren't angry?" Jack asks him really confused.
"Why would I be angry Jack? Because you love Phoenix? I still love Lisa and she is dead but it doesn't mean that I love you any less Jack because I love her still. Is that what you were worried about?" Ianto asks Jack with a smile.
"Not just that. Phoenix told me last night that this will be her last stand," Jack tells him and Ianto's smile drops.
"What does she mean by that?" Ianto asks him standing up form the desk.
"I can't even bare to think about what that means never mind saying it," Jack tells him as he watches Ianto walking around the office.
"She isn't saying that she…..you know," Ianto asks him not able to say it either.
"I know that's what she is saying. She said that she is too tired, too warn out to do this and while she is fighting for everyone else, she has nothing of her own to fight for. She isn't planning to come back from this Yan," Jack tells him.
"Do you believe her?" Ianto asks him now almost as worried as Jack.
"That's why I'm worried Yan. When she makes her mind up, it's almost impossible to get her to change it. I think that she is really going to do this and I can't let her do that. I can't let her go again, not after everything. She is too special to just let go. Imagine all the good she has done and what she can still do," Jack tells him and Ianto looks at him as though he agreed.
"We can't let her do this Jack. We need to show her what she is fighting for, that there is something for her and that she has us, all of us," Ianto tells him coming to the desk again.
"How are we going to do that?" Jack asks him really having no clue except to promise her things he couldn't deliver though he wanted too.
"Leave it with me. I'll think of something and get the others on side too. This is going to take team work," Ianto tells Jack ask Jack gets up and goes to him.
"And that is why I love you Yan," Jack tells him and kisses him gently.
9:12 am and the whole team is in the hub. The team had gotten settled in and Ianto was handing the coffee's out.
"Guys, I need your help with something important. Jack knows about this but I've told Jack that I will handle it," Ianto starts but then Owen butts in.
"Oh great. Ianto has gone all special ops on us," he says thinking that he was being funny but one look from Ianto showed him that he wasn't.
"This is very serious Owen so shut up and listen," Ianto replies shocking everyone, Jack had definitely rubbed off on him.
"It's Phoenix. She told Jack last night that her battle with The Devourer will be her last battle, her last stand," Ianto tells the team and they all look at each other.
"Hang on a minute Ianto. What are you trying to say because it sounds to me as though Phoenix isn't coming back from this battle?" Gwen asks him and his face changes from serious to almost mournful.
"That's what I am saying. She isn't planning to survive this. Jack says that she has given up the fight. She said that this is her last mission," Ianto explains to them.
"We can't let that happen. She is risking everything just being here. She is risking a Paradox by even being on Earth and then when The Devourer comes, she is risking herself to defend us from it," Toshiko tells the team.
"But how do we stop her? By what I have seen already she is as stubborn as Jack if not more?" Owen asks.
"We are going to show her what she is fighting for, show her that she doesn't have to be alone in this and that she has to live," Ianto tells them.
"And how do we do that Ianto?" Toshiko asks.
"We take her out into Cardiff and show her a little fun. We are going to show her all the great things that she would be leaving behind. We need to get her mind on something other than what she has her mind on at the moment. The things is, I don't know what she likes so I need ideas," Ianto tells them and as they take a second to think about it, the hub is flooded in orange/yellow light and a Vortex appears and they know it's Phoenix.