"Morning, Ianto," Tosh called, hanging up her jacket.

"Good morning," Ianto called from the breakroom. "Perfect timing, just pouring."

"Thanks, Ianto. You realise you save me at least 20 minutes every morning, don't you?"

"It's a labor of love," Ianto smiled.

"Speaking of…," Tosh hinted, taking that heavenly first sip.

"He was bang on time, and we had a very nice, relaxing breakfast together."

Tosh grinned. Ianto had phoned immediately after ringing off with Jack, to thank her for getting him home safely the night before and to tell her about Jack's call. "So, did you two have a chance to talk… about things?"

"Yep," Ianto nodded. "Let's just say I understand his situation much better now and I think we've got a shot at making it work, with a fair bit of patience."

"I'm so glad to hear that, Ianto."

"Well, it's nothing major at the moment. Still early days. We'll see. Just now, though, it's… nice."

"Nice is… nice," Tosh snickered.

Ianto nodded just as the front door banged shut and Gwen stalked in, grousing about relationships being 'the stupidest waste of time ever invented'.

Tosh and Ianto exchanged glances, both completely used to Gwen's fishing for sympathy. "Only when you've got one, Gwen," Tosh said, taking her coffee back to her workstation.

"Yeah, right," Gwen laughed. "Well, Ianto will agree with me anyway."

"Why?" Ianto asked, not really all that interested.

"Well, I mean, your boyfriend cocked it up last week, didn't he? Those flowers."

Ianto shrugged. "It wasn't anything especially egregious. We talked about the situation, like adults, and it's perfectly fine, really."

Gwen looked rather put-out that she wasn't getting the sort of concurrence she'd been expecting.

"I'll bet Owen will agree with you," Tosh muttered.

Wednesday evening, Ianto was knackered. He'd detoured for a takeaway on the route home, then shed his suit and poured himself a glass of sauvingnon the minute he walked into his flat. It was hard to tell whether the wine or the korma was more relaxing after a long day, but he was just starting to give into the temptation rest his head on the back of the couch and close his eyes for a few minutes when his mobile rang.

Glancing at the screen, Ianto saw it was Jack ringing, and in the half-second it took him to swipe the correct direction to answer, Ianto hoped fervently that Jack wasn't phoning with a cancellation.

"Hello, Jack. How's your evening?"

"Hello, Ianto Jones. Could be better, but here I am talking with you, so it's not all bad. Yours?"

Ianto had to smile. "It's alright. Tired, though. Just had some wine and takeaway. You've saved me from a nap, though. Thanks for that. Otherwise I'd sleep for an hour, then be wide awake till two in the morning."

"Now, we don't want that, do we? Say, were you able to get Friday off? Cause, I'm thinking if you were, you'll probably be up passed two tomorrow night."

"Yep, we can be up as late as you please," Ianto said, trying not to let his imagination run away with him, thinking about all the things he and Jack could get up to for hours.

"I was so hoping you'd say that," Jack said. Ianto could hear his grin even over the phone. "So, what would you say to me taking you someplace nice tomorrow evening? Could I pick you up around… 7 or 8, maybe?"

"Ok, yeah. All I need to know is how nice you're talking of – bearing in mind that I am a complete antiquarian and still wear a proper suit to work every day."

"I bet you're gorgeous in a suit," Jack said, obviously distracted by the mental image. "Anyway, I'm sure that'll be perfect. I think I can count on one hand the times I've seen gentlemen in jackets at the place I'm thinking of, but you wouldn't be overdressed either."

"Alright, I can do that."

"Good. I'll let you know a more exact time tomorrow morning, ok? For now, you go on and have a good night's sleep."

"Right. Cysgu yn dda hyfed, Jack."

"Diolch, Ianto Jones. Dy weld di yfory," Jack said, ringing off.

Ianto got up to rinse his dinner plate and wine glass. Meanwhile, across town, Jack levered himself off the pavement and climbed into the SUV to get back to the Hub and shower the dried blood off his chest and face. By morning, there wouldn't be so much as a scratch left of the three-inch deep gashes that had exsanguinated him an hour or so before. Nothing to so much as hint to Ianto Jones that his concerns about Jack ending up dead were well founded. Though, since Jack had never yet failed to end up alive, he convinced himself that he had not lied to Ianto at all.

A good meal, Ianto's company, and hours of making love, Jack thought. That would put everything right again, even after a death.