His hands resting on the small of back as they kissed, his tongue battling for dominance as the younger man groaned into his mouth, crushing himself against his body. Those Welsh vowels moaned his name against his lips, running his hands over Jack's chest. He pulled away to rest their foreheads together, smiling at the look of dazed pleasure on the younger mans face.

Those beautiful blue eyes looked into his, then widened in shock. A horrific scream ricocheted through Jack's head as Ianto's shirt turned from crisp white to shocking red. He crumpled to the ground as the Master's laugh echoed through the room….

Jack woke with a terrified gasp. Sweaty and disorientated, he gripped the sheet hard, reassuring himself that he was awake, it was only a dream. A nightmare. A haunting memory. He checked the clock next to his bed. 6:45am. Ianto would be in. He rushed up the ladder and into his office, scanning the hub from above in search of the Welshman.

Silence. Jack was becoming panicked. Ianto had never ever been late without explanation.

The phone rang for more than 10 seconds before it picked up,

"Hello?" the voice at the end of the phone was groggy, but unmistakably Ianto

"Thank God" Jack sighed, "Where are you?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, but…"

"Yan who is it?" Jack heard a voice in the background

"Two seconds" Ianto whispered to the voice, then louder to Jack, "I'll be in for 8:00 like the others, Sir" he said, hanging up without another word.

Jack sat on the sofa, resigned. Before he'd left, Ianto had been in before anybody, without fail. Jack would always emerge at 6:30 to find Ianto had already been got the coffee machine up and running for the day, the aroma drifting comfortingly around the hub. But that was then. Now he had somewhere else to be, someone to be with.

7:45 came around and Jack hadn't moved from his spot on the sofa. The cog door rolled open for Ianto stepped through, steely determination on his face. He hadn't expected to be angry, he'd been aiming for back to normal. But Jack had put a spanner in that. Jack was up and over to him immediately, reaching out towards him before Ianto stepped back. If he'd looked closer, he'd have seen the haunted look in Jack's eyes, the desperation to just touch him, feel his beating heart and know it was real.

"What's going on?"

Jack steadied himself, "Nothing, I just expected you in earlier that's all"

Ianto tensed, "If there had been an emergency of course I would have been here immediately, Sir" he kept his tone even, but Jack could see the edge, "But otherwise the general rule is 8:00am"

"I know, but…." Jack stammered, "You always used to…"

"Yes well that was before" he said bluntly, heading over to turn on the coffee machine.

"Ianto, I'm sorry, I was just worried…."

Ianto laughed bitterly, spinning on his heel to face the older man

"worried?! About what exactly?! You certainly weren't that worried when you up and left us"

"No, I…."

"No! You have no concept of what you did to us all, no bloody idea! We carried on without you, we had no choice! You left me….us in the shit and had to adapt to being without you"

The rest of the team walked in to see Ianto mid-rant, oblivious to their entrance, and Jack stood in disbelief as to what was happening

"And now you say you're worried because I actually come to work during work hours and not pathetically early, that I actually have a life outside of you and this place?! Well don't expect me to apologise for that, Sir!"

He stormed off, predictably to his sanctuary of the archives. Jack remained silent, looking to the others. None of them looked particularly surprised at Ianto's outburst. They knew it was coming at some point and knew that wouldn't be it. Ianto had spoken but hadn't really tackled the elephant in the room. Not yet.

X-X-X

Ianto took a deep breath, leaning up against the kitchen counter in the hub. It had been the longest morning. He'd busied himself in the archives, helped Tosh run a database search for this alien artefact they'd found a few weeks ago which by best guess was just some species equivalent of a hair dryer, and now it was 11am and inevitably time for coffee.

He delivered the cups to each of the team in turn as he usually did, pausing at the foot of the stairs to Jack's office.

"Won't improve things if his coffees cold" Gwen pointed out, seeing his hesitation

Ianto nodded and headed up the stairs, bracing himself for whatever reaction he would get from the older man.

He knocked quietly and entered at Jack's call of "come in"

Jack looked up from his desk, glanced briefly at Ianto then returned his attention to the paperwork in front of him.

"Oh thanks, Ianto" he mumbled as the coffee was set next to him,

"You're welcome, Sir" Ianto replied, "I want to…. apologise for my earlier…indiscretion, Sir. I assure you it won't happen again"

"Thankyou, Ianto" Jack repeated, not looking up from his desk.

He turned on his heel to leave him to it, relieved to see Jack was at least keeping it professional. Nothing more would be said about it. He convinced himself he had been overthinking it all yet again. He shouldn't have thought Jack would have been anything different, yes he'd asked him on a date but that didn't really mean anything, he'd always flirted with anything that moved. A passing fancy, nothing more. Calling this morning had thrown him, the assumption that nothing would have changed while Jack was away was insulting. But there was nothing in that either. Jack had never wanted him as any more than casual entertainment, and now that was no longer an option he'd just move on.

X-X-X

"So…...Jenny"

Ianto stiffened. He hadn't heard the other man approach. The others had left for the evening, with Ianto remaining behind to finish cataloguing a few items Owen had forgotten to check in.

"Yeah, Jenny" Ianto turned to face him, "my…girlfriend I suppose I'd call her that now"

"Right" Jack nodded, "So she…"

"She doesn't know anything about all of this" he gestured around the hub, "she believes the cover story so there's no risk to the secrecy"

"That wasn't where I was going" said Jack, "Just…. she's nice then? Gwen said she was nice"

"Yes, she's nice"

"And you like her"

"hence why she's my girlfriend"

"Right" Jack ran a hand through his hair, "how long has it been going on?"

"A couple of months" Ianto shrugged

"So just after…"

"After you left, yeah" Ianto's professionalism slipped the tiniest amount, almost imperceptible. Within seconds the mask was back, facing Jack with the cool collectedness that he was so used to presenting to the world.

Jack nodded. He turned to leave, hesitating before heading upstairs,

"I'm happy for you both" he said quietly

"Thankyou, Sir" Ianto nodded, "Can I get you anything before I leave?"

"coffee would be great"

"I'll bring it up"

Jack headed up to his office, slumping into his chair with a sigh. He waited for his return, brooding. He waited for the young man to return with a tray, gestured for him to take a seat the other side of the desk. Ianto hesitated for a moment before sitting.

"Just say what it is you need to say, Ianto"

"I wouldn't know what to say, how to even approach what we…" Ianto stopped himself, "I just hope as my employer we are able to work together effectively"

"Look, we were never friends"

"we were never anything really" Ianto said bitterly before he could stop himself,

Ouch. Jack winced at the bluntness of it.

"Well what if we gave that a go?"

"What?"

Jack looked uncharacteristically nervous, "I'd like to get to know you, as your friend. You've all become so close and I love that…maybe we could try that too"

Ianto considered, "I don't know if its as easy at that"

"No, I know" Jack looked down, "Just think about it"

Ianto nodded, "I will" he almost got up to go, then asked quietly, "where did you go?"

Jack shook his head, "not yet. You…. I'm not ready yet"

The pain across his face took Ianto by surprise almost as much as his honesty. He's serious about this friendship thing. Taking the time to look, he could see in Jack's eyes that wherever he'd been, whatever he'd seen had haunted him. He didn't pursue it, it wasn't the right time. He just hoped Jack would talk to someone. Not him, it would probably never be him, but someone.

"Okay" Ianto stood, "I'll see you tomorrow then, Jack"

Jack smiled slightly, "dropping the Sir, are we?"

"We'll see" Ianto still kept that air of professional distance, "It'll take time, I mean none of us knew anything it's a lot to deal with, our leader swanning in and out"

"I know, I need to earn your trust...all of you" Jack admitted, "I just hope I can"

Ianto nodded, "we'll get there" he turned and left the other man alone. Terrifyingly alone.