A/N: Ianto resisting

Spoilers: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian, this one is for you in honor of our 50th ch together, thank you.

Ianto watched the red blow fish that held that scared girl at gun point, he wasn't really listening, he only saw his lips moving. Instead he heard the blood rushing through his veins clouding his hearing; he felt how his fingers became slippery on the trigger. The blow fish fixated itself on him for some reason. It dismissed Owen as adversary earlier in the night when he made him run for cover yelling, because of that Owen pulled that stunt of sitting on the window and shooting.

"The doctor with his hands full of blood" the fish said with disdain, like it was a weakness to choose to save someone instead of hurting them. After that first run, the blow fish didn't bother with Owen, he would just wound someone to eliminate him from equation.

"The carer with her oh so beating heart" he continued his campaign against Gwen; he dismissed her first, playing with her protective emotions to divert her from himself. Before she took them all out in the chase he kicked people left and right throwing them her way, forcing her to stay behind so he would stop doing that.

"The technician with her cold devices" he managed to deceive Tosh's tracking system by his cold blooded nature, that's why they searched in vain and were forced to ask for directions, and he was right, Tosh had lost her confidence as he scrambled her devices one by one with ease, she was unable to rely on anything that her screen said. She couldn't even tell them if a bullet would do it, or if they would need a special weapon.

"Which leaves me with an office boy promoted beyond his measure" the blow fish turned towards him and at that point he stopped listening. The alien was right, it was up to him, the rest of them were shaken by the chase and were unwilling to risk that girl even if that meant they would have to chase him some more. Their logic said that he hadn't hurt anyone seriously and even the man Owen was working on would live, Ianto could tell that, so they assumed the fish would leave to go some place where they could handle him without casualties. Ianto reasoned differently. This was the end of the road and looking into the alien's eyes he knew that he saw it too. It was a dead end, all guns were pulled out, there were civilians in the room, so there was leverage the alien could use against them, but Ianto felt the adrenalin of the fish, knowing it wouldn't back down, it wouldn't negotiate, it would try to shoot them all before the end, there was no other reason for the long chase and teasing, it was the hunt but they weren't the hunters, they were lured in. He had to shoot, but that damn thing kept moving, changing positions, any time now it would stop and he would get a clear shot, because he could do it. Could he? Just as the fish paused the air exploded by his ear and the alien fell down with a hole in his head, leaving girl alive just as Ianto imagined it should happen. Ianto turned his gun confused looking at it thinking for a brief moment that it had gone off on its own. No, it had to be someone right behind him with a clear line to shot just like he had. He swiftly turned around and saw him there standing like he'd never left. Ianto was petrified by the sight, somehow it was more frightening than a mad fish with a gun, had he gone mad?

"Hey kids" he spoke up with his flirting tone looking him in the eyes "did you miss me?" then he laughed with that short but rich sound and Ianto felt stirring in his stomach. It was real, he was there. He turned his eyes away to hide the emotion he wanted to contain before it became too big. It didn't mean anything, the fact that he returned. Ianto busied himself with the body, cleaning; Owen called an ambulance and distributed Retcon. Gwen inserted a cover story into the drugged family. Tosh checked her equipment to see if it had gone back to normal.

Ianto chose to drive the car that the fish had stolen, among other things, following Owen's driving in more careful manner. He needed space and sitting in a closed space with Jack and rest of them was an uncomfortable thought. In spite of his effort his heart beat had elevated and his thumbs tapped on the steering wheel nervously.

"So, Jack is back" he said loudly waiting for the traffic light to turn green."What does that mean?" He sighed frustrated and started faster to keep up with them. `Probably nothing` he thought inwardly but he failed in keeping himself flat and uninterested. As he unloaded the SUV and checked the plates of the stolen car he felt Jack's presence although he didn't look his way. Ianto felt good, checking inwardly on his current appearance and status, he did fulfil his need to look good at losing, and more so he did quite well while Jack was away. He decided to play it cool, they had a fling, and it was over, Jack left; now Jack was back, simple as that, and he managed to pull himself through all that with confidence. It was enough.

But then Gwen had to push Jack and demand an explanation and he stood in the background forced to watch him closely, he forgot how he held himself, how his body moved, how his face changes forming that smile. Then he arched his back thinking and Ianto found himself frustrated with need to go at him and just grab him. Why did he still inflict his senses in that way? Why did he want to press his palms against his back?

Jack acknowledged that he was with the Doctor and was still unable to die.

"Are you going back to him" Ianto challenged him to admit that this just delayed another goodbye.

"No" he denied that looking straight into Ianto forgetting about the others "I've come back for you" he said quietly and Ianto found that hard to believe. Jack saw that, took his breath and looked around letting him go for now "all of you."

Ianto found himself a bit unnerved by his admission, how did he mean that? Why would he come back for Ianto? He must have thought something else, but still, there was a flicker inside of Ianto and he feared that he wouldn't be able to turn it off once more if it got a chance to burn, he would be screwed.

When the Rift alarm went off Ianto didn't offer to stay behind, he wasn't ready to lose sight of Jack, not now, not when he had some things to clear up for Ianto.

In the SUV he sat behind trying not to look too much at the back of Jack's shoulders and movements of his arms, hands on the wheel, he knew that by every look he went deeper down the rabbit hole. The fact that the traces of his unique body scent started to move around the car didn't help his cause either.