A/N: I just wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you! The response to this fic has been supreme and it just makes me wanna write more and more. Anyway I don't own blah, blah and so on . . . hope you enjoy :D

Jack and Tosh had been researching Ianto Jones for what felt like hours, they hit fire wall, after fire wall, after encrypted code. Torchwood security was good, really good and Jones was obviously someone high up or important to those high up; his files were almost impossible to reach. If Jack didn't have Tosh he was positive that the information he coveted would remain permanently elusive.

An hour down the line Tosh had managed to crack the basic encryption for Torchwood personnel files, another hour after that she had broken the next layer and isolated Torchwood one's files.

Two hours, three firewalls, six dummy files, one system crash and one reboot later Jack had finally been booted to the kitchen. Tosh had told him to remain there stressing that "I can't work with you breathing down my neck." Jack conceded this was probably true; honestly he'd stopped being any help hacking wise after the first half hour.

During his 'time out' Jack pondered the possible, more constructive, uses of his time. The gym had been top of the list when he suddenly remembered Ianto.

Okay well it wasn't more sudden as Jack's thought process had gone, gym, sweat, sex, Ianto.

Running to his room Jack realised the boy had been handcuffed there for around four and a half hours. It wasn't like he'd forgotten on purpose but the call form Brian had shaken up his train of thought and then he'd been so captivated by learning more about the mysterious man and then well then he'd been bored and not really thinking about anything.

Jack fumbled with the keys trying to open the door as quick as he could. As the door slid open Jack immediately put up his guard, it revealed a slice of the room. The carpet and an empty bed.

Jack kicked the door fully open and waited back from the open entrance. The perimeter alarm hadn't gone off which meant Ianto was still inside the house and seeing as his door was still locked Jack figured the boy had slipped the cuffs but failed to pick the locks so was lying in wait.

The room remained still, no sudden movement or noise, but Ianto Jones was a professional, Jack would have been disappointed if he'd given himself away. Jack edged into the room, fists raised defensively and eyes darting, searching the darker corners of the room. He made it to the middle of the room without incident when a thought hit and he jumped onto the end of his bed just as a hand snatched out from underneath it.

Jack had let himself drift too close to the bed as he hadn't expected Ianto to be under it, it was not a tactically safe place to be, the boy's movements, thus attack and escape, would have been restricted. But then Jack had remembered that the boy was already at a disadvantage being in the room with no weapons, so tactically his best bet was under the bed, hidden and completely unexpected.

And it would have worked (if it weren't for those meddling kids and their dumb dog, sorry, sorry) but Jack wasn't in this business for shits and giggles, he was in it because he'd been on the other side, con men were often desperate, used to being locked up and on the run, he was in the game because he knew how his marks thought.

From his position on the bed Jack had regained the upper hand, the size of the bed meant Ianto couldn't reach him without coming out from his hiding place.

However Jack also knew they were most probably at a stale mate; Jack wouldn't go under the bed because there Ianto had the advantage, and Ianto wouldn't come out because there Jack had the advantage. He just had to hope that the open door provided too much of a lure for the bodyguard.

After a further five excruciatingly slow minuets Jack clocked that Ianto wasn't about to budge. He hadn't really expected the bodyguard to, if he was any good at his job, and working for Yvonne meant he most definitely was, the boy knew when something was too easy. The moment he moved from under the bed Jack would have a thrown something at the door to close it and pounced, and Ianto knew it.

Jack decided it was time to call for back up, at the very least a shout for Owen may rouse Ianto into some form of desperate action.

"Owen. My room. NOW!"

As Jack had hoped Ianto slid from under the bed in a fluid motion, but instead of heading for the door, Ianto turned to lash out at Jack. Jack had to smirk, not only was the boy smart but he could fight dirty; he would definitely be an asset.

Ianto knew running from the room was pointless, Jack would reach him first, or shoot him, and even if by some luck he made it out the door the doctor was on his way and he really didn't like those odds. Jack was hard enough to handle alone, but with the added distraction of another combatant, who was no doubt Harkness trained, it would be impossible to escape.

So Ianto had chosen option two, fight, if he could overpower Jack before another variable was added to the equation, then he could possibly hold Jack hostage for a way out. Possibly.

Jack stepped back from the first back kick, grabbing Ianto's ankle and pushing it back the way Ianto had pivoted, the foot now holding all Ianto's weight had not been ready for this movement and he lost balance stumbling forward. Jack used Ianto's wobble to step behind the boy and link his arms through Ianto, restricting them at his sides.

Never afraid of a close fight Ianto threw his head backwards, only to find empty space, Jack had expected the move. Ianto instead started to wriggle and struggle, Jack had to widen his stance to remain in control, keep his balance, and Ianto used the newly created space to slip one of his legs between the captains. Ianto then leant forward pulling his arms and body from Jack, naturally the older man pulled back, trying to keep Ianto close, Ianto then used his knew angle and Jack's own momentum against him, he suddenly threw his hip into the captains stomach and pushed back hard with his arms.

Jack who had been tricked into starting his own fall, had two options, release Ianto to halt the fall or hit the ground, hard, and take Ianto with him. He chose the second.

The bodyguard had clearly not expected this, instead of twisting his arms and body to forcefully break Jacks grip, or pulling forward to stop either of them falling, he too lost his balance.

Both men landed in a heap at the foot of the bed. Jack felt the air whistle past his teeth, forced from his lungs. Ianto's fall was somewhat less painful; the main blow of the fall was cushioned by Jack's body. However his elbows, arms still in Jack's dead man grip, had hit the floor either side of the fallen bodies causing pain to shoot up both arms and falter any immediate escape plans he had.

Jack was still dazed when he felt the body above him shift, he could barely register how good Ianto felt on him let alone the fact that he should probably move to stop the man. Lucky for him Owen was blessed with an awesome sense of timing, choosing this moment to run through the almost forgotten open doorway. He felt the pressure on top of him increase slightly before it was gone as Owen hauled, a not completely sober himself, Ianto to his feet and slammed him into the closest wall.

By this point Jack had recovered enough to appreciate the sight before him; Ianto's lithe body struggling against a wall as Owen cuffed his hands with a zip tie. Wait, zip tie, hmm . . . resourceful . . .he supposed, at least it wasn't permanent.

Jack grunted his way to his feet "Thanks Owen, but I've got it under control from here." Owen raised an eyebrow at the statement but still retreated from the room when jack inclined his head at the door. The doctor smirked as he left, Ianto had obviously dented the captain's pride and it was always funny to see the 'unstoppable' Harkness a little shaken.

Ianto leant against the wall, his forehead to the cool white plaster, breathing deeply to ground himself, he could still feel the adrenalin shooting round his body. He remained compliant even as he felt Jack approach.

The captain was a little miffed that the boy had gotten the upper hand like that, Jack prided himself on knowing his opponents' next move, but Ianto switched between clean and dirty tactics so smoothly that he found himself having a hard time keeping up. More than anything though Jack was impressed, Ianto was most definitely more of an asset than the money. He pressed his body up against the slighter man to congratulate him, breath ghosting once again in Ianto's ear.

"I'm impressed. I've only met two people able to slip those cuffs, and they're both in this room."

Xxx

Jack ended up back in the Kitchen, after securing Ianto in one of the interrogation rooms, the one with thicker walls, more locks and with an extra pair of cuffs for luck.

"Cop yourself a good feel Jack?" Owen was nursing a cup of coffee, well what passed as coffee; he'd also been booted from 'helping' Tosh. Owen had insisted he most certainly was helping, Tosh had just got redder and quieter, Owen left soon after that, he quite liked his limbs.

"Of course Owen, why else would I be on the floor?" Owen snorted into his mug, shaking his head at Jack's completely serious expression.

"Finally!" the shout came from the front room, Tosh had it.

Jack raced to the computer screen, his hand resting on Tosh's shoulder affectionately squeezing, She blushed and read with Jack.

"Jesus." came from Jack's left, Owen vocalising all their thoughts.

Brilliant grades throughout his education, countless awards including junior martial arts and no worldly ties.

His parents had died in a car crash before he even finished year 11, it also claimed his older sister.

No wonder Torchwood had Ianto he was the perfect operative. Smart, athletic, angry, extremely mouldable, no warring loyalties and completely expendable.

A/N: sorry if this chapter felt a little pointless but I needed it to move the story along, please bare with me xxx