Summary: Jack isn't the only Torchwood member with restorative powers. At least, not anymore. Jack/Ianto—Post COE.

Rating: R++ overall, this individual chapter…. PG-15ish?

Warnings for this chapter: Profanity, violence, angst… and that's it for now?

Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do I claim any ownership over the Torchwood/Doctor Who Universe. This is a slash fanfiction. Don't like it? Don't read it!

Author's note: So, thanks to everyone for bearing with me and sorry for the very, very unintentional hiatus. Clearly, I didn't keep my promise of getting this out to you guys in less than a week—really, really sorry that I didn't keep good to my word. RL reared its ugly head and buried me under a mountain of work. By the time I'd managed to climb my way out, it'd far too long since I'd updated. Also, I'm behind on my reviews and I'm trying to catch up, so I apologize if anyone's review is left unanswered. If you have a burning question that needs to be answered that I don't get to in the next day or so, feel free to PM, review, or email me so I can answer it to the best of my ability.

I'm sorry this chapter is a bit short, but I figured that a short update was better than none at all. The semester is now over, thank God, and this story is overdue for a few updates, don't you think?

Enjoy!

P.S: It may feel like Gwen is going to steal the show in the beginning of this chapter, but I promised you a Janto reunion, and you'll get one! Just don't kill me for the cliffy, because more is one the way soon (I mean it this time!). This whole staying true to the characters thing is a bitch, though.

And thanks to my lovely beta Vittani for getting this back to me so quickly and bearing with my killer writer's block!

Chapter Seven: Reunions and Meetings, Pt. 2

Nothing was quite as uncomfortable as being trapped in a room with someone who you didn't have much to say to. It didn't help that Johnson seemed utterly composed and still as they waited for something, while Ianto had the oddest need to fidget.

Which was strange in itself.

Because Ianto didn't fidget.

Ever.

And yet there was an odd itch underneath his skin to move, do something other than stare blankly at a door that wasn't likely to open anytime soon. It was something he'd felt only once before—when he and Tosh had been trapped in that basement by those damned cannibals. And if that wasn't something he wanted to be thinking about, when there was something lurking in the Hub that might actually want to eat him.

It was unlikely that anything would be able to get past that steel door. Then again, they didn't know what this alien was capable of in terms of strength. Jack's report read more like a badly edited harlequin novel than an actual file. Gyves were "strong enough to pick you up and show you a good time—which is not always as fun as it sounds." Ianto wasn't sure if that translated into bending steel or not.

But he was almost certain that they were dealing with a fully-grown Gyve now. Especially in light of what Johnson managed to observe from the CCTV.

The Gyve hadn't been merely starving before their eyes, as it had appeared. It had been growing, that is to say, becoming an adult physically. Yet another thing Jack had failed to cover in that nightmare of a report—what actually happened when a Gyve matured. Johnson, by pure chance, was able to witness the alien shoot up close to an inch in height, something most would have missed from the grainy CCTV feed, but the woman had the eyes of a bloody hawk.

The necklace must have somehow triggered it in that warehouse… how in the hell could he have missed something like that?

How could he be expected to lead this team, to keep them safe, if he couldn't even notice a threat right under their noses?

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ianto stopped that train of thought immediately. He was human—at least he still hoped he was—and he'd made a mistake. God only knows that Jack had made them. He couldn't possible hold himself up to an unreal standard, especially when the life expectancy of a Torchwood employee was about 3-5 years on an optimistic scale. Hell, under Hartman, you were considered a veteran if you lasted more than two. They were dealing with dangers most of the world couldn't even comprehend, things that put their life in jeopardy daily.

Ianto couldn't think of the what-ifs. He only had to worry about getting his team through this night with all of their limbs and vital organs intact. Watching as Johnson practiced drawing her gun so quickly that her hands seemed blurred, Ianto didn't think it would be nearly as hard as he feared.

He still couldn't help but feel useless, however. There had to be something he could do… something. It wasn't until he noticed the label on a shelved artifact that he realized what part of the archives they were trapped in.

Then he smiled and got to work.

Gwen got the comms to work for a moment before the signal crackled out of existence again, not even long enough to hear Ianto's voice and know that he was alright. But there was nothing she could do.

For the moment, at least.

She wasn't having much luck with the computers either, and Gwen could tell that Lois was becoming more and more antsy by the minute. Gwen was feeling much of the same. Why wasn't the damn Gyve just attacking instead of hiding? What was it planning? How could it be planning anything other than finding a meal, half-starved as the poor thing was?

Gwen mentally reeled herself back, recalling something Jack had once said to her. "There's nothing worse than misguided sympathy. So please, for the love of God, never refer to something that's trying to kill you as a 'poor thing,' Gwen."

Damn.

She wished Jack were here. Even his snarky comments would be welcome.

It was then that she suddenly registered the sound of steps and a few things happened in quick succession.

Before Gwen could swivel around in her chair, Lois gave a small shriek of surprise and the sound of a gun firing rang out in the air. This was followed by a much deeper yelp and the sound of someone jumping out of the trajectory of the bullet.

Gwen was out of the chair in a moment, gun pointed where she could only see the merest hint of a boot as Lois gaped at the gun she'd just fired.

"Hands out and up!"

The boots disappeared momentarily as the man picked himself up, moving into her sight.

And Gwen nearly dropped her gun in shock.

Jack.

Dear god, it was Jack.

He looked… terrible. His eyes were nearly glazed over with something like madness, his skin dewed with sweat from the unreal heat of the Hub now that the air conditioning wasn't functioning. Rather than making him appear well-shagged, he looked unhealthy. Like someone who was feverish. And his expression: so wild and lost.

It made her shiver.

Then his eyes widened, taking in her form—her gun still hadn't lowered a bit, her body was so stiff with shock—and he seemed to make an aborted effort to step towards her, then seemed oddly hesitant as he paused.

"Gwen." It was a breathless utterance, disbelieving and almost giddy sounding.

"Jack," Gwen nearly whispered back, her cheeks already wet with tears that she couldn't blame on hormones. Her gun finally lowered, and her knees began to buckle as she staggered towards a man who, despite what she may have said to Ianto, Gwen thought she would never see again.

His arms were around her before she even felt him move, choked sobs bubbling within her chest as Jack crushed her to his heaving chest, pressing an almost harsh kiss to the top of her head. She shuddered in his arms, feeling herself break apart and finally knowing that Torchwood would be okay, that she would be okay. That she could go home and sleep with Rhys' arms around her without thoughts of rebuilding and management and Ianto's mysterious resurrection plaguing her. Because Jack was here. And he would make everything make sense again.

After a long moment, where time almost seemed to still, Jack let her go and Gwen reluctantly allowed herself to be pried off of him with a wet sniffle, laughing almost hysterically in her relief and delight. "Jack… what…" her voice trailed off. He stared down at her for a moment, his blue eyes alight with… relief?

Then Jack's mouth moved into an infuriating—and familiar—smirk.

"Missed me?"

It was all she could do to not shoot him in the head. In fact, she thought woozily, if Jack's would stop spinning, she just might…

Gwen came back to herself with a start, her skin feeling uncomfortably hot as she noticed two pair of eyes staring down at her worriedly. "Are you alright, Gwen?" Lois said softly, her hand reaching out to feel the pregnant woman's clammy forehead.

"Fine," Gwen responded automatically, her eyes roving over to Jack. "What happened?"

"You got a bit woozy for a second, that's all. Your condition's not conducive to overly emotional reunions," Jack responded readily with a cheeky tone.

Gwen sat up slowly, accounted for all of her limbs to make sure everything was working (habit of the job, really), then pulled back her right fist with all her might.

And few things were as satisfying as seeing Jack's stunned face as he sat up slowly, moving around his jaw slowly. Even if her knuckles did smart quite a bit.

Gwen scowled down at Jack as Lois looked between the two of them uncertainly, clearly confused. Well, good, because she was confused as well. And pissed. Rightfully pissed.

Jack winced as he got back to his feet. "Guess I deserved that," he admitted grudgingly.

"Bloody right you did, Jack. Leaving me with all of the cleanup the way you did," Gwen hissed out, pissed. Now that she was over the shock of seeing him again, her affection was quickly becoming overshadowed with anger.

"I think it was the right thing to do," Jack began earnestly, annoyingly enough. "Just look at this place, Gwen. It's amazing. I'm not sure I could have done this—you were strong enough to get Torchwood up and running again." He had on that sincere expression, but she knew him well enough to know when she was being manipulated, and right now Jack was only complimenting her to halt her rightful anger.

"So now you're ready to take your place back on the thrown now that all of the grunt work has been finished?" Gwen bit out acerbically. "After we've adapted without you, again?"

For the first time, Jack looked uncomfortable. "Well… not exactly. This is just a visit."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked suspicion. Surely Jack couldn't mean to leave again.

"I mean—well, I'm not planning on staying."

Gwen was stunned for a moment, then angry and confused. How could Jack put them through all of this? What about all that Gwen had done to get Torchwood up and running again, holding out for Jack's return? He couldn't just leave. Oh, god. What about Ianto?

Jack didn't even know.

"Jack—it's, well, Ianto he—"

"I know, Gwen," Jack interrupted with a snap, eyes darkening and jaw clenching.

Gwen reeled back in surprise at the unadulterated hate in his expression. "Know what?" Jack couldn't possibly know Ianto was alive, and even if he did, it certainly wouldn't make him angry.

Jack turned away with a barely concealed growl. "How could you let yourself be fooled like this Gwen? Has being on this team for the past two years taught you absolutely nothing?" He snapped out, not answering the question and only furthering her confusion.

"What are you—"

Krrrk… Rrrksh… Rrrrrshhhhh…

Gwen froze midsentence as unearthly screeches sounded, while Jack whipped his head around wildly, attempting to locate the noise. Lois, too scared to make a sound, merely moved in closer to Gwen, who pushed aside her residual dizziness as she looked for something to aim her gun at.

But no target was forthcoming.

"What in hell… was that?" Jack hissed, sounding pissed. "What in the hell did you let into my Hub?"

"Your Hub? Possessive words for a man that's leaving," Gwen shot back, too focused on looking around the area to really get full satisfaction from Jack's expression. The nerve of him—as if they'd wanted the damn Gyve to get loose!

Krrrhhhssss.

"Seriously, Gwen. I need to know what we're dealing with," Jack murmured, eyes focused to the left. Gwen quickly turned, knowing Jack must have noticed something she hadn't. Prick or not, the man's hearing was well above par. "I need to know what I'm about to be killing."

"It's—"

"A Gyve. And no offense, sir, but I don't believe you have the jurisdiction to be dictating whether or not we execute it."

Jack stilled in surprise, turning back slightly to Lois and giving the girl an appraising look. She seemed to quell slightly under his sideways stare, skin turning pink, before straightening her shoulders and fixing her mouth in a stern line was somehow equally cute and sexy.

Jack could definitely see the appeal.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because…" Lois hesitated, flushing even further as Gwen's eyes turned to her as well. "Because, a-according to ordinance 4.12.15, you… you voided all claims of Torchwood leadership when you left the planet's atmosphere without n-notification." Lois could have fried an egg on her face after stammering out her defiant little explanation, but her hazel eyes were still stubborn. Gwen's mouth was quirked slightly at one side, a twinkle of 'at-a-girl' in her eyes.

And Jack finally understood why Lois Habiba was the newest member of Torchwood.

But as much as he was enjoying little Lois's macho side, he was going to have to take the wind out of her sails. "Hate to tell you, honey, but what you're fighting right now isn't a Gyve. It may sound the same, but the MO's all off." And actually, Jack hadn't meant to sound quite that condescending.

Skkkkrrrsssh, the thing shrieked like bad radio static from their right. As they turned quickly, trying to get a lock on it to no avail, Gwen shot Jack an ugly look.

"And you know this how, Jack? I don't remember you being here when we got a positive ID from UNIT, who I dare say, might have a bit more experience with Gyves than you do. Unless, of course, we're talking about the fact that you've managed to fuck nearly every species of alien from here to the next galaxy."

Jack exhaled heavily out of his nose, honestly surprised by the hostility in Gwen's voice. "It's because I've fucked one that I know this isn't what we're dealing with. And since when do you listen to UNIT, Gwen? If you would have done the research yourself, you would know that no Gyve can shape shift!"

"Shape… shift?" Gwen repeated slowly. "What on Earth are you on about?"

Jack gave her an impatient look. "Usually you're quicker on the uptake. Then again, you did let a freaking alien that looked like Ianto into the Hub, so I might have overestimated you."

Lois let out a choked, confused noise. And Gwen, she actually lowered her gun, turning to stare at Jack in astonishment.

There was a long silence, a silence that was not even interrupted by an untimely shriek.

Then… "Have you lost your mind?"

"Have you lost yours?" Jack countered, unable to believe the woman had actually failed to notice what was going on.

"Ianto?" Lois interrupted tentatively. "Our Ianto Jones? But Ianto, he's not an alien, sir."

And Gwen, to Jack's irritation, was still shaking her head in disbelief. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know more than you."

"You've been gone for months, Jack. Long enough for my stomach to get round and for Ianto to come back—"

"Stop it, Gwen. Just accept that whatever you have in here isn't Ian—"

"For Ianto to come back," Gwen repeated, speaking over him. "He's back. You left, and he came back. He's alive, and—"

"No!" Jack snapped out forcefully. "He isn't, Gwen. You're confused."

"And you're an idiot. And the thing that keeps making that god-awful noise is a Gyve Ianto picked up a few days ago in an abandoned warehouse!"

"No," Jack repeated angrily, hoarsely. "That's not… not right. You don't know what I know. The dead can't come back. Ever."

"I know more than you do. I know that Ianto was trapped in a steel room in the archives when the Hub went into lockdown, which quite effectively makes it impossible for him to be what's trying to attack us now."

Jack's jaw worked furiously for a moment. "I don't believe you."

"Doesn't matter what you believe, Jack," Gwen said almost sadly. "Ianto's back. He's been back for weeks now."

"That's not true. It's, it's some thing that looks like him… s-something not… real," Jack denied, his expression almost shell shocked. He was shaking slightly, Gwen noticed, his mouth trembling as his eyes glazed over slightly. She wondered what was going through his head. If she was getting through that thick head of his.

"It is. I promise you, I swear. I would never allow something wearing Ianto's face to fool me! For God's sake Jack, believe me!"

"I can't!" Jack yelled back, rise in his voice making Lois jump.

"Why not?" Gwen asked softly.

"Because I would know! I would fucking—" Jack's voice cracked. "There's no way," He continued on somewhat hysterically, "That he could exist anywhere in this Universe and I wouldn't feel it. How c-could I not know the moment he… he… Fuck! It's not, not possible," Jack whispered. "I just… I would know." Jack's knees were shaking now, and the gun in his hand was shaking so badly that Gwen was halfway worried his might misfire it. And he looked…

He looked like a man who was afraid to believe that what he wanted so badly could be true. Afraid that he would break again and that nothing could put him back together.

And before her eyes, Gwen began to see the unstoppable Captain Jack Harkness fall apart.

"Jack," she whispered softly as tears began to stream down his face, remembering a time when she didn't believe he could truly cry. "Jack, please." She couldn't bear to see him cry, not now as the tears began to well up in her own eyes. Not when everything was so close to being okay, and not when he held onto the stubborn belief that Ianto was lost to him.

Kkkkrrsshhhhhkkkkkkkkkkkkhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrr—"Gwen?"

Gwen jumped at the sound of her voice being issued out of thin air after the especially long shriek. That had sounded like…. like Ianto.

Had she imagined it?

"Gwen, Lois? Can you hear me?" The words were followed by that familiar shriek, which Gwen suddenly realized wasn't quite what she had assumed it was.

"Ianto?" She called out tentatively, unable to take his eyes off of Jack. The man was frozen, his head turned in the direction of Ianto's voice. He wasn't moving. God, it didn't even look as if Jack was breathing.

"God, finally," His relieved voice came from the right now, preceded by high-pitched static. And Jack's blue eyes roved over the area almost madly, waiting for Ianto to materialize before his eyes. "Are you and Lois alright? I've been trying to get in touch with you for the longest time now, didn't know how this bloody thing worked—"

"What thing?" Gwen interrupted as Jack stumbled his way to lean on a desk. She wanted to reach out to him, comfort him somehow, but he looked unhinged… like a cornered, mad animal. She wasn't even sure if he was aware of anything right now other than the sound of Ianto's voice, or the static that preceded it. He was taking in deep, almost high-pitched breaths and if she approached him now, Gwen figured he might lash out.

"Alien tech," Ianto's voice came from above now and Jack snapped his head upwards so hard it looked painful. "It's a teleporter," Srrrkkkss "…bu…I …uldn't get a lock on another location in the Hub to transport Johnson and I…." Kkkrrrssshhh "about to come through, so… pare yourself... I'm quite sure I m… miscalculate and land on some…s head."

The interference made the message hard to understand, but Jack seemed to have heard it perfectly because he finally acted, pulling Lois away from Gwen's desk swiftly and yanking on Gwen's unresisting form until she rested against his chest. The static shrieking—a noise they had wrongfully attributed to the Gyve—sounded again, but it didn't stop. The sound grew louder and louder as thin, pulsing green cracks in the air appeared before her eyes, as if the very fabric of the world was tearing itself apart. The sight was blinding even as the sound began to die off and she soon had to close her eyes against the spellbinding sight.

As the light—it was so bright she could see it even from behind her closed lids—began to expand, the world became silent except for Lois's frantic breaths against her side and the almost overpowering thud, thud of Jack's heart against her ear.

And when Gwen opened her eyes again, Ianto was standing there, looking lost.

She could feel Jack's grip on her tighten almost painfully before his arms began to slacken, and as his heart raced even further. She wondered what must have been going through his mind—Gwen remembered the night she'd found Ianto in the Hub and shuddered. It was likely tenfold worse for Jack, who honestly believed his lover was dead for all this time.

Of course, Johnson had to ruin the moment by raising her gun to Jack, who hadn't even spared a look in her direction since he'd laid eyes on Ianto. Gwen doubted that Jack remembered anyone else was in the room. His arms around her and Lois were no longer strong, they were lax, shaking and lowering.

Only a few feet away, Ianto's clear blue eyes widened as he finally took in the sight before him, mouth moving silently as if he couldn't get the words out. But, finally, one sound got through his numb and shocked lips.

"Jack?"

TBC