Is it really that confusing? Well, I guess that's the curse of the people who try to write mystery. You are bound to wonder at some point- Am I too secretive? Or maybe all my readers know what's going on? And to answer Village-Mystic's question (since it's not a secret... I did say it in the chapter)- No, in the flashbacks he owns a little cafe but Jack keeps offering him a place in Torchwood. Thanks to all who reviewed, put in favourite and alert. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Sharing Memories With a Smile

"I won't ask you why you did it," started Jack as soon as Ianto came back from the shower, dressed in something different from a suit so dirty it was keeping him upward and looking refreshed. "We all do stupid thing in the name of love. I just want to know w..." He was stopped abruptly by the snort that came from the other man and glanced up, bewildered.

Ianto just smiled slightly and plopped down on the sofa.

"Sorry, sorry. I just... I didn't do it out of love, you know. But don't mind me, I'm listening. Why don't you sit down?" That was what he was reduced to- babbling? It should have embarrassed him but it was so hard when the man in front of whom he was making a fool out of himself looked so much like the one he had loved so long ago. Even that hint of concern, the 'I'm-not-sure-which-one-of-us-has-flipped-their-lid' Ianto knew so well and adored. In a different world, with another man, he had to keep reminding himself that.

Jack nodded and sat down before pushing one of the two cups of coffee he had served little after the other man had disappeared into the shower toward Ianto. There was a moment of silence which the immortal used to decide whether to use Ianto's words to continue the conversation or to say the one he'd prepared all along his way to here. Having decided, he raised his head as he reached for his own cup, "No?"

Once again the air around them went stiff and Jack was just contemplating on how he should always be carefull with that one when Ianto answered,

"Before I found her at Canary Wharf, I thought I had lost everything, that there was no point in living when J... everybody I've ever loved were dead. And then I saw her, half-converted, bloodied and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Except you on the night I met you for the first time in here "I thought, I wanted to believe, that if she was alive then there was a chance... other people had lived too. 27 survivals, but they weren't one of them. Neither was I, if you think of it."

"Don't say things like that," interrupted Jack as he had gotten the idea completely wrong. "You have survived it, that's what it is important. Some things are better to be forgotten." Without realizing he said the exact same words to the young man that he had repeated to himself over time.

"But isn't that what makes us us? Our memories, our thoughts." Ianto raised his head, their gazes connected and Jack was taken aback by how old those eyes looked and how much pain and despair shone from them,"the faces of our loved ones, imprinted to the back of our minds? That's why I saved her, I convinced myself that if I helped her then she would be there for me too. That she would keep those memories in line. The happy ones, the bad, the romantic... the tragic." His knee bounced yet neither men noticed. "And all those pictures inside my head." The other man almost expected him to grip his head and rock forward but nothing changed, Ianto was as motionless as before." They would make some sense."

Jack nodded, deep in thoughts. It was better to forget about a horiffing experience but there were people who prefered to talk about it. He had seen a lot of them and knew how to deal.

"Why don't you tell me one of those memories you wanted to keep so much?" he asked finally. Ianto looked at him startled and, not that he'd swear on his life, gasped.

"You don't have to..." the younger man started, but when his companion just shook his head, he sighed and, smilling softly, told him one of his clearest memories.

"I worked in a cafe, long ago in ano... in university. To pay the bills and so on." If Jack noticed the wavering of his voice he didn't let it on. "There was that person. A magnificent creature, so unique and funny and perfect and beautiful. We were friends, you could say, even if I wanted more. We would meet at the cafe every day. One night we were walking toward my h... dorm as it had somehow become a tradition..."

"You don't even pretend to not stalk me anymore, do you?" Ianto said as if to thin air as he was locking the cafe. When he was done he turned around and there he was, his friend, standing on the same spot he'd been yesterday, and the day before, and... since that time he'd followed him home and Ianto had invited him in.

"I've never stalked you. I'm merely keeping you company, you don't know what kind of stuff is out there." Jack shrugged, falling into an easy step beside him.

"And since I'm your damsel in distress you have to keep me save?" There was no heat behind the words, merely amusement and the other man caught that perfectly well. He looked at his companion and smirked.

"You sure look like one." And even the punch he received couldn't stop him from laughing out loud.

"But milord, I'm nothing but a humble lady." He would have made a curtsy if he wasn't so bloody tired. And if it wouldn't have looked so strange. " I can not be your damsel when I had not had the pleasure of being your date first."

They shared a look, both of them biting their lips as if wordlessly they had agreed on making it a competition on who was going to last longer. But soon everything was too much, the incredulous looks they got from the passers-by, the fact either of them could see the other redden in the face and their trembling lips and how every single funny thing they had ever read/seen/heard was twirling inside of their heads and suddenly they burst into laughter that made a dog near cry and a baby- howl. Or maybe it was the other way around... They doubled over, bodies shaking and clutching desperately to one another for some kind of support.

When they could finally draw a breath without bursting into a fit of giggles they let go of each other, but their eyes met and they shared a little smile. Jack reached out to wipe the tears gathered in the eyes of the other man and even if freezing for a second, Ianto let him.

"But you are right, you know. I can't possible expect you to be my "damsel" if I haven't asked you on a proper date yet. So, what do you say, Ianto Jones, would you be my date?"

"That depends, sir." A teasing smile stretched Ianto's lips, getting even bigger when he noticed the frown on the other man's face. Probably Jack had expected a flat-out 'No' or maybe a leap into his open arms. But who was Ianto to deny them some excitement in their lives? "I have some conditions you have to meet first"

"What conditions?" Jack was less suspicious, but his features had yet to relax. Ianto just waved his hand in a dismissive fashion.

"Oh, I have a list. In fact, keeping Owen away from my cafe is in the top 10. You might want to keep that in mind."

"I don't think you have to worry about him. Yesterday, I overheard Tosh saying something about cutting his head if he stepped a foot inside without her. Not sure which head, though." Jack smirked, making it clear that he knew they were messing around but refusing to back down nonetheless."Next?"

"Well, you know how the number of people being robbed on their way to their work has increased? It'd be only sensible if you were to keep me company in the morning too."

"Gladly." His blue eyes were twinkling with mischief, perfect teeth softly sinking into red lips to keep them from twitching upwards. And maybe Ianto's gaze lingered on them for far too long."Something else?"

"There is always the issue about, you know, kissing." He shrugged awkwardly, his eyes shifting from the lips in front of him to the cold pavement. "I think demanding a kiss each day is reasonable, don't you?"

He said it playfully but inside he was all knots. He knew the last condition would show he had no desire to be just friends with the other man, that it was more than teasing. He was so anxious he didn't even notice Jack wasn't following him any more for a few seconds. When he did, he turned sharply and almost jumped back from the open leer on his friend's face. He could only watch like a deer caught in the headlines as Jack strode to him, something different, lighter, in his step and wrapped his hands around his waist, bringing him closer. But when those plush lips he had been staring at only moments ago moved, his body reacted on its own and ducked out of the way.

"After our date," he tried to find an excuse for what he had done, but it was hard when most of his self-control was spent on keeping the blush off his face. He squeezed slightly Jack before untangling himself from his hold. When their eyes met, Jack was smiling too fondly for a man who had been just rejected and that led the Welshman to thinking that he hadn't fooled him.

"And just so you know," he said, just to regain some of his dignity, " that's our last time we refer to me as a woman."

"... we were joking and teasing each other, my way of flirting, and later on as I found out- my companion's too. And then, out of the blue, I was invited on a date." His soft smile turned into a grimace in a blink of an eye." It just went downhill from there."