A familiar sight in the form of the SUV met him as he turned the corner onto his street. He smiled. Getting his keys out, he opened the door of his building and stopped to pick up his mail in the lobby. It was the typical junk mail that he hated, so he bundled it together and headed up the stairs to his flat. It was quiet. On his landing he put his key in the lock of his door and opened it. The smell of something cooking wafted out the door and his stomach growled. He had been so busy he had forgotten about food. He closed the door and stepped past the foyer into his living room. Seeing Jack's greatcoat draped carelessly over the back of an armchair he smiled. Jack was being domestic again.

He kicked off his trainers and walked in his socks through the living room and into the kitchen. Jack was standing at the stove stirring something. Walking silently behind him Ianto wrapped his arms around Jack's waist and hugged him.

"How'd it go?" Jack asked, not at all surprised to feel the younger man pressed against him. Damn, he tried to be quiet, too.

"Good, I think. Haven't found anything out yet, but something is certainly fishy," Ianto said. He rested his chin on Jack's shoulder and peeked over it. "That smells good."

"Hungry?" Jack asked with a smile. He felt rather than saw Ianto's nod. "Good, then sit down and I'll serve you dinner."

"It's awfully late," Ianto said, conscious of the time and how tired he was. His stomach growled loudly and Jack laughed. "But it does smell good. Just a little bit, please."

Jack pushed back with his hips and encouraged Ianto to move over to the table. Pulling away reluctantly, Ianto moved over to the tiny table and sat down. His kitchen had never been what one would consider large by any stretch of the imagination. Considering how little time he spent in the place, he had often wondered about whether he should even bother to keep it. Still, it made a change from hanging about the Hub all the time. And it gave him moments like this when Jack wanted to spoil him. He smiled as Jack dished out a bowl of chili and brought it over to him.

"I didn't dare make coffee," Jack said with a grin. "What would you like to drink?"

"I don't want to look at coffee this evening," Ianto said and Jack chuckled at the tone in his voice. "Just water, please." Jack moved over to the sink and poured him a glass of water from the tap. "Please, sit." Jack sat down opposite him and rested his chin on his hand.

"So?" He watched as Ianto dug in hungrily. "What'd you find out?"

"Other than the place is a pig sty? A little," Ianto said. He made an attempt to slow down as he was practically inhaling the meal in front of him. Taking a sip of water he thought back to the earlier part of the day. "I think that the proprietor is an alien," he said thoughtfully.

"Why do you think that?" Jack asked, watching Ianto. It was one of his favorite pastimes. Ianto shrugged.

"A certain lack of personal hygiene always makes one wonder," he said and Jack laughed. That was usually the giveaway when dealing with aliens. And Ianto had a particularly sensitive nose.

"What else?"

"She wants to pay me a ridiculous rate for working there, which is suspicious. Plus, she doesn't seem to know much about her business. She knows the words, but it seems like she doesn't know how to act, if you know what I mean." Ianto took another spoonful of the chili and savored it. "Maybe she's a pod person."

Jack laughed at the reference. "You think there are pods in the basement?" Ianto shrugged.

"There's certainly something down there. She warned me off going any further than the roasting room," he said. "Said a pipe had collapsed and the rest of the area wasn't safe. That doesn't make sense. If a pipe had collapsed, it would need to be fixed, wouldn't it? And I didn't see her leave, so it looks like she might live there. Certainly explains why her clothes are stained." Ianto shuddered.

"What about the employees?" Jack asked. He watched as Ianto mopped up the last of his meal before sitting back with a sigh. He was amused that Ianto looked so threadbare. It was such a contrast to his usual neat attire. Jack bit back a chuckle at Ianto's idea of undercover wear.

"I've only met one and lethargic doesn't begin to describe that one," Ianto said while shaking his head. "If there are any other employees, they have to be just as bad." He stifled a yawn as he got up to put his bowl in the sink. "I hope I can figure it out sooner, rather than later. That place gives me the shivers."

"What was the deal with the camp phone call?" Jack had been dying to ask that since Ianto arrived, but figure it would be better to wait. Ianto chuckled.

"Protection," he said. He tried to stretch and winced as his back twinged.

"From what?" Jack was curious. Never in a million years would he have ever thought Ianto would talk to him like that. He got up and motioned Ianto to turn around so he could massage Ianto's shoulders. Ianto turned so he faced the counter and leaned against it. Jack rubbed his neck before starting on Ianto's shoulders. The muscles were tight, so he dug his fingers in, making Ianto hiss in pain before sighing as the muscles loosened up.

"Mrs. Trundle, the shop owner." Ianto said. "It was a two pronged protection. It lets her know I have someone waiting for me, so I won't disappear if she decides I'm no longer useful, and it means I'm not interested. She had a decidedly scary look on her face and I feared for my manhood." Jack laughed out loud at that comment.

"Ah, so being camp was protection against a woman's unwanted advances," Jack was amused as Ianto nodded. "Makes perfect sense."

"I thought so," Ianto said. He leaned into Jack's hands sighing in relief. "Oh, that feels good. I don't think that store has been cleaned in months, if not years. But I desperately need a shower to get this smell off me." Jack grinned, knowing how fastidious Ianto could be. He pulled Ianto back and turned him towards the door.

"Go," Jack said, giving Ianto a gentle push. "Take your shower. I'll clean up." Ianto gave him a skeptical look. "What, you don't think I know how to wash a pot? Go, you can do an inspection after you wash up." Ianto padded off in the direction of the bathroom and Jack cleaned up the kitchen. Granted he didn't do it often, but he could see how tired Ianto was.

By the time he was finished, he could hear that the water was no longer running in the other room. He made his way to the bedroom and stopped just outside the door. The bedroom was dark, the only light coming from the bathroom. It silhouetted Ianto as he dried his hair with a towel.

"Feel better?" Jack asked, leaning against the doorframe. Ianto sighed deeply and nodded. "Back any better?"

"Not really," Ianto admitted. He stretched upwards before bending over to ease the tight muscles in his back.

"Lie down, I'll give you a back rub," Jack said. He followed Ianto over to the bed and waited for the young man to settle down. Ianto hissed as his bones settled onto the mattress. Jack sat down on the bed and took off his boots so he could climb up on the bed and onto Ianto. "Okay, let's see if this helps."

He straddled Ianto's hips and put his hands on either side of Ianto's neck. Starting with slow movements, he worked his way across the shoulders before making his way down to the shoulder blades. He heard Ianto's breath catch as he found a mass of knotted muscle there. "What did you do to yourself?"

"I found a taskmaster worse than you," Ianto said. "Oh, right there."

"You are your own worst enemy." Jack was amused with Ianto's assessment. He leaned into the muscles and worked at loosening the knot up. Ianto grunted as he dug his fingers under the shoulder blade before hissing in relief as Jack smoothed the mass out for him. Once he was finished with that, he moved over to the other side and worked on that for a while. He slowly worked down Ianto's back before starting over again with some massage oil he got out of the nightstand drawer.

When he finished his second round ministrations, he could hear Ianto snoring softly. He chuckled. The poor man was exhausted. He got off Ianto without waking him and pulled the duvet up to cover him. Leaning down, Jack gave him a kiss on the forehead before turning to leave. He still had work to do, and he wanted to swing by the coffee shop to see if anything looked out of place.

Grabbing his boots, he turned off the bathroom light, leaving the room in darkness. The light from the streetlight outside allowed him to find his way out of the room. He sat down and put his boots back on. Picking up his coat, he dug into one of the pockets and made his way into the kitchen. Putting a box on the table where Ianto normally sat, he looked around for a piece of paper. Not finding what he wanted, he had to go back into the living room and take a sheet out of Ianto's printer. Taking a pen as well, he quickly scribbled a note and left it on top of the box for Ianto to find in the morning.

Before he left he paused, debating with himself. He headed back to the bedroom and set Ianto's alarm for him. Ianto had mentioned going back to the coffee shop in the morning, so he set the alarm accordingly. Ianto had rolled over and had one arm above his head. Jack couldn't resist leaning down and kissing him again. It was a sign of the other man's exhaustion that he didn't even stir. Jack smiled and lightly caressed Ianto's cheek. He turned and left, carrying his coat over one arm as he left the bedroom.

In the living room he put the coat on and left the flat, closing the door behind himself quietly. He fitted his key into the lock and made sure that the door was secure, though this was a safe neighborhood. Jack then made his way out of the building and got into the SUV. Consulting the GPS, he drove over to where the Coffi Emporium was located. He parked down the street, not wanting to look too obvious, and walked past the store front before going around the corner. He found the alley entrance behind the shops and cautiously made his way down the dark passageway, looking for anything suspicious. He had to count the doorways until he got to where he thought the back entrance to the coffee shop was. Looking at his vortex manipulator, he looked for any sign of anything out of place. A brief scan didn't show anything. That didn't necessarily mean anything, but he was relieved nonetheless. He'd probably stop by in the morning and check it out during regular hours. He really wanted to see this woman that made Ianto so nervous. Jack grinned.

A moment later his manipulator went off and he saw that the Hub computers had flagged an alert. Jack sighed. Hopefully it wasn't anything major. He quickly made his way back to the SUV and checked the computers. Weevils down by the Bay. Jack drove off, intent in Weevil hunting. He needed to burn off a little excess energy, anyhow…

*