Same Ianto, Different Jack

Chapter 41

By Gracefultree

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A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and comments! I was so encouraged that I wrote the next chapter already. Enjoy!

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Ianto stood in the middle of the Hub, clutching an armful of clothing to his naked chest. He dropped to his knees. The tears came as he started gathering his things, finding a picture of him and Jack amidst the pile of clothing and personal items. God, if Jack was throwing away that picture… His wallet, keys, mobile and Torchwood ID were on top of his spare suit, one shoe and a tie on top of that. He knew he looked ridiculous, crying, picking up his things, barefoot, with messy hair and smelling of sex. He didn't care, because this hadn't gone at all how he planned.

He'd expected Jack to be angry. Hurt. Upset. But not to break up with him. Not to kick him out of his bed and bunker. Not to give him their flat and fire him.

Jack had agreed to let Ianto shoot him. It made no sense that he'd be angry over Ianto killing him in his sleep. It was easier this way, less painful. He wasn't looking in Ianto's eyes as Ianto pulled the trigger. He didn't have to see death coming.

But maybe that was it? Jack didn't know it was coming… so he felt betrayed that Ianto would do it like that?

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Rex crowed from the third workstation level. "Maybe now we can get some real work done around here." He clapped loudly and ordered everyone back to work.

Ianto couldn't even muster the energy to make a retort. Everything fell from his arms as he lost his ability to hold it together. He closed his eyes tightly, whispering a prayer to a God he didn't believe in that Jack would get over his upset soon, that it wasn't really the end of all they'd built together.

"Ianto, love, what happened?" Gwen asked, kneeling next to him. She picked up his shirt and draped it over his shoulders.

"He, um, he —" Ianto cleared his throat. "I think he dumped me." He looked down at the pile. "And fired me."

"What happened between you two, I mean?" she persisted. Somehow, she'd gotten his arms through the sleeves and was buttoning his shirt for him. Jack's shirt. He'd go home to their flat, full of Jack's things, without Jack. Again, not how he expected this to go. He expected Jack to be angry, to want to shag the argument away as they did so often in the past. He expected they'd finish out the day and go home together. Ianto would cook. He even had the lamb already in, knowing it was one of Jack's favorites after a difficult day. Now it would be Chinese takeaway, by himself.

"This isn't like him at all!" Gwen exclaimed, bringing him back to the present moment.

"He took exception to what I did," Ianto said, not willing to discuss the details when half of Torchwood was standing around watching his disgrace while pretending to work.

"Afterwards, though, it seems like. You're not exactly dressed…"

"He came back, I comforted him, he asked how it happened, I told him, then he did this."

"Well, I'm going to help you! He can't just do this. You were trying to help him!"

"Gwen, he's hardly being rational right now," Ianto pointed out, wiping his eyes. "I should go home, clean up. I should be ready when he calls or comes by."

"You think he will?"

"Of course he will." Ianto took a deep breath and let it out. "I have to believe that."

Esther wheeled over to them, stopping next to Ianto so she could reach over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just so you know, he can't actually fire you," she said. "For someone of your rank in Torchwood, he'd have to go to the King."

Ianto glanced up at her and gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Esther. I'm not worried about that. I can work from home while he cools down. I'm more worried about our relationship."

"What relationship?" Rex demanded, having climbed down the stairs. He towered over Ianto and the women, his arms crossed over his chest. "As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing to him anymore, and that means you're nothing to Torchwood. You have ten minutes to get out."

Ianto opened his mouth to protest, but Gwen jumped to her feet and slapped Rex in the face before he could say anything.

"You're out of line, Rex Matheson! You've hated Ianto ever since he got here, and I won't stand for it any more. Adjust your attitude or you'll be the one fired!" Gwen grabbed Ianto's arm and pulled him to his feet. "Come on, darling, I'll take you home," she added to Ianto in a kinder voice.

Lois Habiba rushed over with a box and picked up all of Ianto's things, even fishing his shoe out of the pool of water, and handed the lot to him. "I'll keep you updated on how he's doing," she said softly. She added a second mobile to the box. "Keep this one on you so I can reach you."

Ianto nodded and followed Gwen to the car park, a blank expression falling onto his face. "Did you just tell off Rex for me?" he finally asked Gwen once they were driving.

"Of course I did, sweetheart. He's got to get over his jealousy. There's no place for that kind of negative emotion in Torchwood as it is now. We're nothing like we were when I started."

"Jealousy?"

"Rex has been jealous of you ever since we met him. Not in a sexual way," she quickly added. "He's in far too much denial to admit to feeling anything for a man, let alone Jack, but he's jealous that you've always been the person Jack turns to in a crisis. Even when you weren't here, Jack would talk through things with you, kind of like using the image of you as an internal sounding board. And now that you're back, Jack goes over everything important with you. Don't think we don't know about it. Not that I mind, of course, even though I'm second in command. I expected it. Drives Rex nuts, it does!"

"I've wondered why he hated me," Ianto said.

"Jack's thought more about you than anyone else in his life, I'd wager. Cares more about you. More than the Doctor, and we all know he was first for a long time."

"I've never met this Doctor," Ianto mused. "New New Jack's Doctor was all right, I guess."

"He's not all that," Gwen said. "Saved the world a few times, but who hasn't? You, me, Jack, we do the difficult work of fixing the messes he leaves behind."

"Yeah," Ianto agreed. "Did Jack tell you about some of the planets he saved when he was off on hsi own?"

"A few. He was especially proud of Gingin and Davkanti."

They sighed in unison and grew quiet.

Ianto picked up the picture from the box at his feet. From a photo session Jack dragged him to at a professional studio, it was one of a series. Jack had claimed that he wanted formal pictures of them together for his memory box, but that had been a foil for an elaborate plan to propose to Ianto, down on bended knee, ring in his hand, eyes hopeful and full of love. Ianto had dragged him to his feet and kissed him so hard they both felt slightly bruised, but the ring ended up on his finger and that was the most important part. The whole thing had been captured on digital 'film', and this picture was of them smiling dopily into the camera, arms around each other, when Ianto finally remembered the photographer.

Later, Jack hired the photographer to follow them around Cardiff to take pictures of them at various spots that had sentimental value, and even inside Torchwood for a few shots. Ianto was thankful that they no longer had to retcon civilians who'd seen the base, though they monitored them to make sure they didn't share secret technologies with the world. His sister had even come to visit, deciding that with Ianto back, she finally felt comfortable visiting the Hub and seeing where he and Jack worked.

"I was just trying to help," Ianto said, running his finger along the picture frame. He looked down at the engagement ring and wondered if he'd have to take it off. Had Jack really broken up with him? Or was this just a bigger version of one of their usual fights?

"And he'll figure that out," Gwen reassured him. She pulled into Jack's parking spot and turned to Ianto. "Do you want me to come up?"

"No. Thanks, though."

"Call me, if you need to," Gwen offered.

"Thanks," Ianto said again. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Look after him for me."

"As if I'd do anything else," she teased. "What did you do with his vortex manipulator? Should I worry he's going to run again?"

"Secure Archives, only accessible with my palm print and retina scan," Ianto answered. "He can run, but he can't go farther than the other side of the world. And I've got mine," Ianto added, tapping his leather wriststrap. He got out of the car. "So I'll see you for supper tomorrow for our usual dinner?"

"Anwen has a ballet recital. I told Jack this morning, but…"

"I got it. Call me if you need something. And call me if he goes out and gets himself killed. I'm still going to do my best to be there. Make sure to tell Bruce and Marta."

"You must love him so much," Gwen murmured. "I can really tell at times like these."

Ianto nodded in response since he wasn't sure what to say and left, taking the lift to the flat. He dropped the box on the coffee table, gathered the clothes to sort into their proper laundry bins, and stripped so he could shower. The hot water would do him good.

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Three hours and twelve minutes after he was so unceremoniously ordered out of Jack's bed, Ianto's mobile rang. He took a quick pull on his beer, wiped pizza grease off his fingers, paused Goldfinger and answered the call he'd expected at least an hour earlier.

"Jack."

"Where's my vortex manipulator?" Jack barked. Ianto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling a headache coming on.

"Are you ready to talk to me?"

"Where's my vortex manipulator?" Jack demanded again.

"Where you can't get it!" Ianto snapped. "Now is there anything else, or are we done for now?"

"You've had yours long enough to know how unsettling it is not to have it," Jack said. "I want it back."

"And I've known you long enough to know that as soon as I give it back you'll run off-planet to get yourself killed to feel better for a few seconds and ruin all the progress we just made."

"You're a sadistic bastard."

"And you're an immature, arrogant arsehole," Ianto responded.

"If I didn't love you so much, I'd hate you right now," Jack snarled and hung up.

Ianto groaned softly and re-started his movie. At least Jack called. At least Jack was still speaking to him. And he said he loved him, which, for Jack in one of his moods, wasn't always gauranteed.

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tbc