16

"Jack, if you don't calm the fuck down I'll sedate you!" Owen snarked as Jack paced around the table.

"JACK!"

Jack sat, laying a hand on the unconscious Welshman, still wet from the shower.

When the men had come pounding in, wet and naked, the girls had thought it a joke and were about to argue when they saw Ianto's head lolling as he lay like a rag doll in Jack's arms.

"He's stable" Owen declared as he adjusted the robe he was now wearing, "I go … he fainted."

"But he was fine!" Jack frowned as he stroked the skin gently.

Jack's robe was fine velvet, like a wizard's garb and Owen wondered again how little they really knew about him.

"Adrenaline overload, delayed shock, you almost shagged him to death, take your pick" Owen shrugged.

"So, no damage?" Jack asked, ignoring the barb.

"Jesus Christ, he is OK. He will sleep, wake up and probably be pissed that he fainted given the bug up his butt, hey sorry, should I say captain instead of bug now?" Owen quipped.

"Owen, I never thought I would see the day when my sex life was interesting to you" Jack said with mock sincerity, "You always act like you don't wanna hear it."

Owen huffed.

"OK, if you must know, I am the one who enjoyed the ….er….fulfilment of the exercise last night. Today? No penetration" Jack said proudly.

"Huh? That was a double orgasm and you tell me there was no penetration?" Owen scoffed.

"Yep!" Jack leered. "Happy now? You're voyeurism fulfilled?"

"Tosh? How do you say too much information? "Gwen growled as she walked up the stairs, bored with the whole thing.

"You say TMI and by the way Gwen, good shooting" Tosh called after her.

"Bum licker" Owen muttered.

"Oi! I'll have you know, I've licked some very nice bums but it's none of your business!" Jack quipped as he slapped the back of Owen's head.

"His poor body" Tosh said sadly as she noted the scars and bruises. She reached out and ran her fingers lightly over a large burn that covered his hip.

"What did this, do you think?" she murmured as she watched his eyelids flutter at her touch.

"That is a cyberman's metal plate-work" Jack sighed, "Lisa must have been hot and he was holding her against him as he dragged her through the flames of T1."

"Oh my god" Tosh breathed with horror.

"There is no doubt that he loved her" Jack admitted.

"Jack?" Tosh said softly, "He still doesn't count himself as part of the team, does he"

"No. He still thinks he had to prove himself worthy to be here" Jack answered, trying not to look at Gwen who had paused at the top of the stairs.

"But he is!" Tosh huffed, "He has."

'Then we need to stop babying him and treat him like a valued member, not the pet dog that does tricks." Jack retorted.

"We do not all treat him like that!" Owen glared at Gwen, who ducked her head. "I spent a lot of time with him after the cannibals, finally found someone capable of beating me at Halo. He's bloody quick. We still have beers and gaming every other Sunday. I don't know why I act differently here."

"Jealous?" Jack asked softly and Owen looked at his feet.

"Owen? Which? Of him? Or me?"

Owen grimaced and huffed as Jack touched a nerve. Jack leaned back satisfied that he had guessed correctly. Owen made Ianto smaller because he didn't like Jack showing Ianto attention. Not because he was jealous of Ianto getting the attention, but of Jack being the one to get the shy smile. Well, well, well.

"Look, what's done is done. I think from this point forward, we remember to include him in stuff" Jack said as he clapped Owen on the shoulder, forgiving his feeling immediately. After all, he saw the promise in the young man, how could he begrudge Owen a small crush on the Welshman as well.

"Yeah, yeah." Owen nodded, "Shit he's has this his whole life, no wonder he's so furtive"

"He doesn't know how to accept help because he's never had any" Jack agreed, then he lowered his voice, "He's mine. I meant what I said in the showers. I'll not share. Not this one."

Owen nodded his head as he thought about it, their occasional exchange of playmates in the old days wasn't going to happen now. It hadn't happened since Ianto had come on the scene and now he knew why. Strangely, he felt like that was right and proper.

Owen let go of his feelings and accepted it. Ianto was still a mate.

"Tosh, I want to know what happened to his parents, how did they die?" Jack said as he soothed a small curl away from Ianto's face.

"Done" she moved to comply.

"Gwen, we need to make them visible, we need more … whatever. Wet paint, sand, whatever we can throw on them to give them solid structure." Jack demanded.

"And when he sees the mess and has a bloody dipstick brain explosion?" Owen asked, pointing at Ianto's sleeping form.

"He will forgive us" Jack said, waving his hands at them.

"Let's go!"