[Jack] knew that Ianto was the one man he could trust. The man he… the man he knew loved him.

— Torchwood: In the Shadows

Soon the vagaries of attempting to communicate effectively with Ianto were the least of Jack's concerns. Owen's death and subsequent resurrection shocked them all, and despite Martha's best efforts to take the doctor's place, the entire team remained on edge for the first couple of weeks after it happened. Things came to a head shortly before Gwen's wedding, just after Martha had returned to London.

For the third time in a week, Gwen had begged off work early to make wedding arrangements, leaving the others to pick up the slack. Her teammates did not find this arrangement satisfactory, and had become quite vocal on the subject.

"It's not fair, Jack!" Toshiko cried when she'd found Gwen's desk empty again. "She's already taking the next two weeks off for her honeymoon! Why should we have to do her work this week as well?"

Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. He was tired of arguing, tired of Gwen's insistence, tired of putting out fires that weren't his fault. "It's her wedding week, Tosh. Once it's all over, she'll be back to work as usual. She's already agreed to take some extra overnight shifts when she gets back, to make up for it."

"Right, because her husband's gonna be thrilled that his new wife's spending all her nights at the Hub," Owen groused. "I give it two days before she's batting those big doe eyes at Jack and asking for nights off."

Jack scowled at him. "Are you volunteering, Owen? Because last I heard, you were still complaining about the effect being dead has on your social life. It's not like you have anywhere else to be at night. You don't even sleep any more."

"Dead or no, I can still be driven mad by the sound of that bloody water tower," Owen snapped. "I need time away from the Hub just like everyone else."

"But apparently you have to be getting married in order to actually get time away," Toshiko muttered. She shot a hooded glance at Owen.

"Don't look at me," he said wryly. "Last I checked, only the living could register for marriage."

Toshiko glanced up to the upper walkway, where Ianto was returning from feeding the pteranodon. "Ianto, we should get married. Then Jack will let us go home at a reasonable hour."

Jack held out his arms in an appeal. "Ianto, a little help here?"

The younger man cocked his head and appeared to consider Toshiko's suggestion. "Married? To each other, or just in general?"

Toshiko frowned. "It would be tricky to keep Torchwood a secret from both our spouses. I suppose we'd have to marry each other."

"Hmm." Ianto leaned over the rail. "It would be nice to get home in time for The Apprentice," he mused.

"Oh, you watch The Apprentice?" Toshiko turned her back on Jack and smiled engagingly up at Ianto.

"Whenever possible. But it's on at nine, so I've missed a lot of it, working here."

"Well, let's get married, and then you can watch it whenever you like. We'll just tell Jack we're looking at flowers for the wedding or something."

Jack's mouth fell open. "Hello? Standing right here. Still the boss, remember?"

They both ignored him. "All right," Ianto said with a shrug, starting down the stairs. "I suppose we should make it convincing. It's traditional for the man to propose, but would you like to? It was your idea, after all."

"Sure, I don't mind. Hang on, let me find a ring…" Toshiko rifled through some dismantled electronics on her desk until she came up with the circular core of a small electromagnet. She stripped off some scraps of copper wire and held it up. "This should do, don't you think?"

"Oh! Can I be your best man?" Owen cut in suddenly. "Then I'd be obligated to go to a lot of wedding rehearsals and fittings and things, right?"

Ianto nodded. "Sure, might as well. Gwen can fill in for the nights we're all off for 'wedding planning.'"

Toshiko glanced at the floor, frowning. "Do you mind if I don't get down on one knee to propose? Only I'm worried the grating will snag my nylons."

"We can't have that," Ianto replied with the utmost gravity. "Any woman I marry must have presentable nylons. I'm very particular about that."

"Enough!" Jack shouted over all of them. "Fine, I get the message. You're not going to do any work tonight even if I make you stay, so go on. Get out. Go home. But I want each of you here on time in the morning, ready to make up the work."

"I'll be here when Gwen is," Toshiko answered sweetly. "I can track her phone with my PDA. I'll know the moment she leaves her flat."

"Oh, brilliant idea, Tosh," Owen said. "Text me when she does, will you? My drive's five minutes shorter than hers, so I can still make it here before her."

When they had exited through the cog door, Jack blew out a long breath and watched Ianto perform his nightly routine, switching off various machines and wiping down the kitchen appliances. "Looks like the wedding's off," he called. He heard the sneer in his own voice and consciously checked his anger. "That's too bad," he added, forcing a note of playfulness into his words. "It'd be a good chance to see you in a tux."

Ianto lifted his shoulders in a shrug and continued cleaning the coffee machine. "You may yet have the chance, if you continue giving Gwen preferential treatment over the rest of the team."

Jack frowned. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"It's what you have been doing, for weeks, whether or not you realize it. You give in to her every time. And the others notice."

"Her wedding is a special occasion, a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And you know what she'd be like to live with if I didn't. She'd never stop pushing."

"She pushes because she knows if she does, you'll let her do whatever she wants." He paused to run water in the sink for the dishes. "You know I care about Gwen. She's my friend, and I want her to be happy. But Tosh is right. It isn't fair to make everyone else cover for her, time after time. They work hard enough as it is; they don't need to carry Gwen's workload as well." He met Jack's eyes over his shoulder. "You got off easy tonight. Next time it happens, you'll have a full-scale mutiny on your hands. I doubt they'll wait for you to dismiss them before leaving."

Jack crossed his arms. "And I suppose you'll walk out with them?"

Ianto shrugged again. "Don't be surprised if I do, sir."

Jack's anger flared again—he always trusted Ianto to back him in matters of his authority, and coming from him, this insubordination was tantamount to betrayal—but he had to admit that Ianto had a point. He did have a hard time saying no to Gwen, and perhaps some of the friction between himself and the rest of the team was his fault. He eyed Ianto's rigid shoulders, clearly visible in waistcoat and rolled shirtsleeves as he washed their plates and coffee cups. "And are you walking out with them tonight?"

Ianto's hands stilled for a moment in the dishwater. "I assumed you were including me in the evening off." He swished a plate beneath the tap and set it in the drying rack. "Was I wrong to think that?"

"No, but…" Jack chewed his lip. "I thought you might be inclined to stay and help me out with some of the backlog." And then, Jack thought, when they had finished a reasonable amount of paperwork, they could retire to his bunker and…

Ianto interrupted his fantasy with a sigh. "I work hard too, Jack. And I really do want to watch The Apprentice." He glanced at his watch. "If I leave in the next ten minutes, I can even get takeaway before…"

"Fine," Jack scowled. "Leave that for the morning and go. I wouldn't want to keep you from your hot date with Lord Sugar-Whatsisname."

Ianto didn't need told twice. He dried his hands, retrieved his suit jacket, and was on his way to the cog door when Jack called to him.

"Would you really marry Toshiko?" Jack rotated to watch him, arms still folded over his chest. He was trying hard not to be cross that Ianto had scorned his bed for a television show about board meetings, or business practices, or whatever equally dull things were discussed on a show like The Apprentice, but it was an effort.

Ianto raised an eyebrow as he turned back to Jack. "What is this, a game of Shag, Kill, or Marry?"

Jack shrugged. "Sure, why not? You still have eight minutes." He grinned. "Me, Tosh, Owen. Go."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Fine. I suppose it's cheating to kill Owen since he's already dead, but I'm not doing either of the other things with him." Ianto scarcely paused to think over the other options. "Shag you, marry Tosh."

Some part of Jack's heart he hadn't been aware had been hovering in anticipation sank like a stone. "You wouldn't marry me?"

Ianto shrugged easily. "I already know you're good in bed, but Tosh would let me watch The Apprentice every week if we were married. Shag you, marry her. Best of both worlds." He slung his jacket over his shoulder, turned on his heel, and stepped through the cog door.

Jack gritted his teeth, furious at his team for rebelling, at Ianto for brushing him off, and most of all, at himself for letting it bother him so much. The grinding gears of the lift doors taunted him with Ianto's grand exit. "I love you, too!" he shouted, his lip curling in a sneer.

"Good night, Jack," Ianto called back. The lift doors closed on the words.