Please enjoy this long chapter! Merry Christmas! (It's March, but I don't care.) Chapter warning: mention of canonical character suicide.

Ianto Jones woke up in someone's arms for the first time in five months. His alarm clock was beeping, but he didn't care. Jack stirred next to him, stretching and yawning. "Are you going to turn that off or should I?" he said sleepily.

"No, I got it." Ianto rolled over, reaching for his bedside table, and pressed the button to turn off the alarm. He turned back over to face Jack, whose hair was mussed adorably and whose eyes were blurry with sleep. "Hey," Ianto said.

"Hey." Jack sat up, untangling himself from the sheets. "Nope, cold," he said, immediately regretting that and re-burying himself under the covers and snuggling up close to Ianto's warmth. "Hey, it's Christmas Eve," he realized. "Merry Christmas!"

"Happy Christmas!" Ianto replied. "I never did understand why Americans say 'Merry'. They don't say that for any other holidays."

"I'm not even sure," Jack confessed. "It just sounds better."

Ianto squinted at him. "No, it doesn't. Anyway, my shop's closed for the next two days for Christmas. Do you have to go to work?"

"No, I gave them a week off."

"A whole week!"

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, well, I basically make our schedule to be whatever I want it to be. And Tosh is happy because she can go visit her mom in Japan and Gwen can spend time with her boyfriend. Actually, they might be engaged, now. I think I saw a ring. Wonder if I'll be invited to the wedding."

"I'm sure you will be," Ianto told him. "From what you've said, they really look up to you."

"Did I tell you that Susie's actually off working now somewhere? They won't tell us where, but she's in some special ops team."

"That's nice." Ianto yawned.

"Hey, um, Ianto," Jack began.

"What's up?"

Jack put his head down on Ianto's shoulder, and Ianto pulled him closer instinctively. "Did you...did you notice, was I dreaming at all last night?"

"I don't think so," Ianto said. "Or, at least, you never woke me up with any tossing and turning, and I'm a light sleeper. Why?"

"Well, I've had more than one person tell me that I've had nightmares since I got back from the war, but I can never remember in the morning." Jack seemed hesitant to tell Ianto this. "But I haven't stayed overnight with anyone for a few months, so I didn't know if they were still happening."

Ianto kissed the top of his head gently. "If I notice anything, I'll tell you," he murmured. "Okay?"

"So we'll do this again?" Jack asked, almost shyly.

"Are you kidding? We should do this every night," Ianto said, not even joking. "It was…"

"Amazing," Jack finished for him. They laughed.

"Want to help me decorate my tree?" Ianto asked. "I've got an old fake tree and a hell of a lot of decorations to use and I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"I've never really been much for traditional Christmassy things," Jack confessed. "Also, I don't have any clothes with me…"

Ianto's eyes widened. "Oh! Right. I'll find you something." He swung his legs out of bed, wincing when his bare feet touched the cold wooden floor. "I really need to get some sort of carpeting in here," he lamented as he rummaged through his chest-of-drawers looking for something to wear and something for Jack. They weren't too different in size, if Ianto could just find something with slightly broader shoulders… "Hideous Christmas jumpers okay?" he checked.

Jack laughed. "Actually, that sounds perf-whoa, you weren't kidding, those are hideous," he interrupted himself as Ianto handed him a thick navy-blue woolen jumper patterned with reindeer. "But it looks warm."

"And some flannel sweatpants. We shouldn't be leaving the house today, so that doesn't matter." Ianto's jumper was dark red with a Christmas tree in white on the front and green on the back. "I can make some breakfast."

Jack was getting dressed quickly. "I can help!"

Ianto raised his eyebrows. "Jack, last time you tried to help me make scrambled eggs for dinner, you burned them," he reminded the enthusiastic man. "I didn't even know that it was possible to burn scrambled eggs. Leave the cooking to me, okay?"

"Okay," Jack said dejectedly.

"I'll make some waffles, and I'll put on the coffee."

Jack brightened up at the mention of coffee. They ate breakfast, which was delicious, and then set up the tree. Or, well, they tried to set up the tree.

"Ahhh! Jack, it's falling!" Ianto cried.

"I've got it, I've got it." Jack held the toppling tree steady. "I'll hold it, you finish putting the base on."

"I think we were supposed to put the base together first," Ianto moaned. "How did we even manage to mess up this badly?"

"It's not that-" One of the branches fell off of the top, crashing down on top of Ianto's head where he crouched at the base. He cried out. "Ianto!"

"Ouch," Ianto grumbled. "You were about to say it's not that bad, and so help me…"

Jack carefully leaned the tree against the wall. "Are you alright?"

I just had a bloody branch fall on my head, what do you think? Out loud, he said, "Yeah. Bloody hell, but that hurts." He touched the top of his head gingerly. "Am I bleeding?"

"I don't think so." Jack hovered over him anxiously. Ianto looked up. The worried expression on Jack's face was almost comical, and Ianto couldn't help but laugh. "What?"

"You." Ianto put his hand out for Jack to help him up. "How about we take a break from the tree?" he suggested.

"Okay," Jack said, clearly relieved. "Wanna watch a Christmas movie?"

Ianto bit his lip, rubbing the top of his head, still not entirely convinced that he wasn't bleeding. "I don't actually have any," he said sheepishly.

Jack's mouth dropped open. "Ianto Jones!" Ianto shrugged apologetically. "Right, that's it. We're going to my place and we're going to watch Christmas movies all day."

That actually sounded like the best idea Ianto had heard in a long time. "Sure," he agreed readily. Then- "Are you sure I'm not bleeding?"

He wasn't.

Ianto had only been to Jack's flat a couple of times. It was tiny, not as neat as his, and always cold, but Ianto made sure to grab a couple of thick quilts and stuff them into a bag. As an afterthought, he also put in a change of clothing, just in case.

Jack's front room was a rather sad looking affair, with a small, drooping couch and a tiny old TV. "You still have a VHS player?" Ianto noticed incredulously.

"Call me old-fashioned." Jack winked.

Ianto was, without realizing it, tidying up the couch and the area around it. There were a lot of books and items of clothing just strewn carelessly around, and he found the TV remote that Jack was searching for tucked between the two cushions of the couch.

"Oh, that's where that was," Jack said, snatching the remote.

"So, what are we watching?"

While trying to clear the VHS player of dust, Jack made a gesture towards a couple of boxes he had pulled out from underneath the TV stand, also covered in dust. "Take your pick. Find something you haven't seen before."

"That won't be hard," Ianto muttered. "I never lived in a household where it was customary to watch Christmas movies." He opened the top box, sneezing a little at the dust that rose up off it.

"I'm sorry," Jack said, genuinely pitying him.

Ianto snorted. "Don't be, we had plenty of other traditions." He thought for a second. Actually, they didn't. His father had never been one for Christmas, he would just keep drinking and yelling. And he hadn't had a Christmas with Lisa, having met her in January and lost her in July. Had he really only known her for seven months? He forced himself to stop thinking about the past and kept looking through the box of old tapes. "You don't watch these much, I presume?" he asked, referring to the dust.

"Nah, not anymore. Aha! It's working."

Ianto pulled one of the movies out. It's A Wonderful Life! it read. Ianto thought he had maybe heard people talking about it, but had never seen it. "What about this one?" he said. "It looks cute."

Jack shot him a wary look. "Have you never seen it?"

"No," Ianto said, wondering why Jack seemed so hesitant to watch it. Something called It's A Wonderful Life! couldn't be sad, could it?

"Okay," Jack said. "Here, give it." He put it in the VHS player, tapped a few buttons, and led Ianto back towards the couch while it brought up a fuzzy image on the screen. Ianto and Jack buried themselves under the quilts that Ianto had made sure to bring and settled down to watch the movie.

I was wrong, Ianto thought, half an hour later. I was so wrong.

Soon enough, the movie was finished. As Jack quickly turned off the VHS player before the horrible static could begin and set it to rewind. He heard a sniff from next to him, and looked at Ianto warily. There were tears dripping down from the young man's eyes. "Ohh," he said softly. "That wasn't what I was expecting."

Jack gave him a gentle squeeze. "You okay there?"

Ianto sniffled again and cuddled closer to Jack. "Mmhmm."

This was the first time that Jack had seen Ianto cry, and it was kind of cute, actually, that he could get so sappy over a movie. He kissed Ianto's forehead affectionately, and was about to kiss his lips when the phone rang. "Oh, hold on, sorry, I've got to get that," he apologized quickly, squirming out from underneath the pile of blankets, disappointed that he had to leave the nest of warmth just to answer to phone.

A few minutes later, he walked slowly back into the front room. Ianto had wiped away his tears and was sitting up, waiting for him. "Who was that?" he called.

Feeling stunned, Jack sat down on the couch. Ianto immediately sensed that something was wrong and came over to put his arm around Jack. Jack didn't react.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"It...it's Susie, the woman I trained, the one who was working for special ops," Jack said numbly. "Sh-she, she's dead." He heard Ianto gasp and start saying how sorry he was, but now Jack was the one with tears in his eyes, and he buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Ianto's hand rubbed Jack's back comfortingly. "They said she killed herself," he whispered. "She had only been gone for a week, wh-what could have happened to make her do that?"

"I don't know," Ianto murmured. "I'm so sorry, Jack." Jack felt Ianto wrapping him in a hug, but just kept crying. It felt like his fault. He must not have taught her well enough, or told her what it was going to be like, and now she was dead. "Shh, it's not your fault," Ianto told him, and Jack realized that he must have been speaking out loud.

He took a couple of deep breaths, wiping his tears away harshly. But as he looked up and met Ianto's concerned grey-blue eyes, he broke down again. It took several more minutes for him to pull it together, and he hated himself for how weak he felt for letting Ianto see him so vulnerable. "I'm fine," he said finally, wiping away the rest of his tears angrily and avoiding meeting Ianto's gaze. "Do you want some lunch?"

Ianto made himself and Jack sandwiches and tea from Jack's tiny kitchen, while Jack sat at the table. What should have been a lovely day in had turned into a nightmare for poor Jack, and Ianto just did whatever he could to make Jack feel better. After they had eaten, Ianto suggested that they go back to his place and maybe finish assembling the tree. Jack seemed to be feeling a little better, or at least was a very good actor. Ianto didn't doubt that it was a little bit of both, and Jack thought that finishing the tree was a great idea.

"Perfect," Ianto proclaimed at last. The tree had been put together with no more accidents and now it was time to put on the lights and ornaments. Jack was untangling the strings of fairy lights, and was about to start wrapping it around the tree, starting from the top. "No, Jack you've got to start from the bottom!" Ianto chided.

"Why?"

"You just do. Here, see, you plug in the string of lights and then make sure that they're turned off, and then…"

"Complete!" Jack exclaimed several minutes later. All of the lights and ornaments had been put up, and the tree glittered with the sheen of the many baubles. Ianto had insisted upon some candy canes, too, because he said that it made him less likely to eat the hundred or so that were in the flat if they were acting as decorations. "Now all we need is an angel or a star for the top."

Ianto pulled out the final box from the suitcase that he had all of his Christmas decorations shoved inside for most of the year. "One silver star, coming up, and look! You can put one of the fairy light bulbs in it and it glows!"

Jack grinned. "Who gets to put it up?"

"I think you're a bit taller, you should do it."

"Am I?"

"I think you are."

"I'm 6'3''."

"I'm 6'2'' so you're definitely taller," Ianto confirmed. "Even if not by much." Jack still had to stretch to reach the top of the tree, however, and the edge of his jumper pulled up to reveal a little bit of his side. Ianto eyed it mischievously, and as soon as Jack had fastened the star to one of the lights and it wasn't going to fall, Ianto darted his hand forward and prodded his side. Jack let out an undignified squeak and jumped backwards as Ianto cracked up.

"Ianto!" Jack yelped, pulling his shirt down quickly.

Ianto was laughing. "You are ticklish!"

"I am not," Jack protested.

"You most certainly are." Ianto chuckled again. "Shall we light the tree, or wait until it's dark?" He turned towards the outlet that the wire was plugged into. "Probably wait until it's dark," he said, unplugging it. "That way, we can see the full effect." Then he turned back to Jack, who had his arms crossed protectively over his stomach, looking at Ianto suspiciously. Ianto had to laugh again. "Don't even try to deny it, you're definitely ticklish and I'm definitely going to use that to my advantage at some point."

Jack looked a little bit apprehensive and took a step back. "I bet you are, too," he muttered.

"Oh, I'm not." Ianto grinned. He enjoyed having something over Jack, but mostly he was just pleased that he was taking Jack's mind away from Susie. He glanced at the clock. "It's four-thirty, want to have some tea?"

"Do you have any hot chocolate?" queried Jack.

"I'm sure I can find some," Ianto answered. They went into the kitchen and Ianto heated up some milk for the hot cocoa, found some really good chocolate, and went off to the pantry in search of an unopened package of marshmallows. When he returned, Jack had gotten quiet and Ianto could see that he was thinking about Susie again. "Milk's hot," Ianto observed.

"So are you," Jack added, breaking out of his reverie to smirk at Ianto.

Ianto snorted. "Thanks." He poured the milk into the mugs, which already had the chocolate powder in them. "How many marshmallows do you want?"

"Oh, no marshmallows for me, thanks."

Ianto gave him an almost horrified look. "You don't like marshmallows?"

Jack shrugged. "Not particularly."

"Well, no accounting for taste," Ianto muttered to himself, plunking about seven of the soft white sweets into his own mug. "Here you go, one cup of hot cocoa with no marshmallows."

"Cheers." Jack smiled. "You know, hot chocolate with some alcohol in it isn't half bad."

Ianto looked at him over the brim of his mug. "Really?" he asked incredulously, and then took a gulp of the beverage.

Jack nodded. "And then, you know, drunk carolling."

Ianto almost choked on one of his marshmallows. "What?" he spluttered. "That's not a thing."

"Of course it is!" Jack defended.

"Maybe in America, but here in Wales, we've got this thing called decency. You might want to look it up," Ianto teased.

"Ooh, harsh," Jack conceded. "Okay, so no drunk carolling. What do you want to do this evening, then?"

Ianto bit his lower lip lewdly, and almost smiled when Jack focused on it, his eyes lighting up. "Hot cocoa first," he whispered.

"Okay," Jack whispered back. "And then…"

Raising one eyebrow, Ianto replied, "Then, it's Christmas."

Late that night, thoroughly exhausted, Jack held Ianto tightly, Ianto's back pressed to his chest, curled up on the bed. "You're incredible, Ianto," he murmured.

Ianto shifted and turned over to face Jack, a slight smile on his lips. "You're not bad yourself," he replied. Jack closed his eyes as Ianto traced his fingers down Jack's arm and kissed him. Then he yelped as Ianto squeezed his side lightly, squirming away in indignation. "Sorry," Ianto laughed. "Actually, I'm not." He did it again, and Jack flinched again, trying not to giggle. "It's kind of cute," he added, moving so his left hand was on one side of Jack and his right on the other, speaking downwards towards Jack's face, pinning him down. Jack tried to distract him by kissing him again, but Ianto wouldn't be distracted and kept prodding at his sides and stomach until he was a laughing mess, his face turning bright red.

"St-stop!" implored poor Jack.

"But you're adorable," Ianto purred. "Especially when you're laughing." But he relented for a second, looking over at the clock. "It's almost midnight," he said. The clock read 11:58. Jack took the opportunity to reverse their positions. Now Ianto was pinned down. "Jack!"

Jack stopped his protest with a kiss, wrapping Ianto in his arms and sitting them both up. He moved his lips down Ianto's neck and towards his shoulder. Ianto shivered with pleasure, trailing his hands up and down Jack's back. 11:59. "Hmmmm," Jack sighed, and returned to kissing Ianto's lips.

"Move in with me," Ianto whispered between kisses.

"What?"

"You heard me." Ianto could barely believe that he was asking that this quickly, but he knew himself and he knew that he wanted this with Jack. "Move in with me?"

Jack pressed their lips together again, harder this time, his tongue flickering over Ianto's. "Okay," he said. "I will."

Ianto looked at the clock just as it changed from 11:59 to 12:00. "Happy Christmas," he said, leaning in for another kiss.

"Happy Christmas," returned Jack. "We forgot to light the tree."

"We did!" Ianto exclaimed. "Oh, dear. I suppose we got a bit distracted."

Jack laughed. "I suppose we did."

"Want to go do that now?"

"I would love to go and light our Christmas tree, Jones, Ianto Jones."

Ianto sighed. "You're never going to forget that I introduced myself to you like James Bond, are you?"

"Never." Jack adopted a bad, posh British accent. "Bond, James Bond," he teased. Then and even worse Welsh accent- "Jones, Ianto Jones."

Groaning, Ianto shoved him away playfully as they got up to go light the tree. "Never ever do that again," he ordered.

Jack made a face. "That bad?"

"Yes," Ianto told him truthfully. "Oh, damn, it's freezing," he complained. Jack pulled the quilt out of the disheveled pile of sheets on the bed and floor, wrapping it around both of them as they left the bedroom for the living room. "I'll plug the wire in, and then you turn on the switch," Ianto instructed.

"Bossy," Jack chastised.

Ianto threw him a coy look. "Don't pretend you don't like it."

"Did I say I didn't like it?" Jack grinned. "Ready?"

Ianto slipped out of the blanket so he could reach the plug, keenly aware of the cold air and Jack's eyes on his skin. He ignored both and plugged the fairy lights in. "Your turn."

Jack reached for his hand. "Together."

They flipped the switch on the little box, and suddenly, their eyes were assailed with bright, flashing, blue and white lights. "Wrong setting!" Ianto exclaimed, fiddling with the switch until it settled in the middle of its track, where the lights stayed constant. Jack was rubbing his eyes to get rid of the spots dancing in front of them.

"Why is that even an option?" he complained.

"I have no idea," Ianto replied, highly amused. They surveyed the beautiful tree, lit up and sparkling with a gently glowing silver star on top, the perfect picture of Christmas. "Let's go back to bed."

But before he could take a single step, Jack swept him up in his arms, lifting him off the ground somehow easily, and kissed him warmly. "Merry Christmas."

"To many more."

It might be a while before my next update, because this chapter was so long. But if you like my stories, and if you like Daredevil, you should totally check out my new story A Series of Unfortunate Events! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, reviews are wonderful. Many thanks and much love! ~Clare