1

It started like any other day in hell… I mean Torchwood. Ianto slouched along with his ribs screaming, his head thumping and the rubbish piling up. Owen had stopped scolding, having given up. What a fiasco, first real field mission since the Lisa Thing and now Cannibals tried to fucking eat him.

It had been a week since the trip and everyone was back on deck, albeit a little sore. Gwen was still milking it of course, Owen so fed up he sprayed some alien mist at her now and then from behind her while she swung in her chair that Ianto was sure was for calming and sedating dogs or something but it did seem to shut her up.

Jack was watching Ianto from the mezzanine level, Ianto knew because he could feel his gaze burning into his back as he stooped to gingerly pick up a tissue that had missed the wastepaper basket. He needs a claw. Maybe an orange jumpsuit and a claw for this community service. For some reason the thought was amusing and he coughed softly to hide an unexpected giggle, then grimaced as his ribs reminded him that their level of humour was not on par.

Jack noticed the cough and the cringe, wanting to go down and check on him but knowing that he would not be welcome. He had tried several times to help with the tent pitching, with the aftercare in the medical bay, with getting Ianto home to recover. If he had learnt anything in this team building exercise it was that Owen was a dedicated doctor who placed aside any anger or disappointment in Ianto over the Lisa Thing and had rounded on Jack like a spitting mama cat.

Jack could only hope that sooner or later Ianto would come to him for advice, help…. Gods please for some comfort. Jack wanted that. To comfort. And let's be honest here, to get some. Jack had not realized how deeply Ianto had slid into his heart until the Lisa Thing and now, having almost lost him yet again, Jack knew he had to step up sooner or later and say something.

So many times, he had loved and lost and never said anything. The 'Don't' rule he used all the time to ward off the L word was so ingrained in him that it was not fair to those who tried to say it. Losing Gray, his father then his best friend in the academy, Jack had learnt that the L word was dangerous and anyone who loved him would suffer in one way or another. But he could not live like that forever and he knew that if there was anyone who he could forge a life with… well… for the term of their life anyway… it might be Ianto. Might have been Ianto. But now… Jack could only twist in the wind while watching the same wind tear at Ianto like a wild animal.

Ianto turned and looked at him. I mean… looked at him like he heard that and for a moment Jack's heart stopped. Then it happened. Momentary. Fleeting. A soft smile, the one Ianto used to give across a room before 'comforting' happened… then it was gone, the shields slammed down and the hooded expression back as Gwen started to yell for coffee and Ianto turned away.

Jack straightened from where he had been leaning and turned back for his office as he pondered the files waiting on his desk.

Bugger.

.

.

"Oh, I thought you had forgotten."

"How could I possibly forget with the voice mails, the text messages and this" Ianto asked blandly, lifting the piece of paper with a crayon scratching on it that said 'Saturday Sleepover' or… no really it said 'Satday Sleeps' but you get the idea.

"That little cow, did she do that pocket thing again?" Rhiannon laughed as she looked at her daughter's secret note to her beloved Uncle.

"Yep, she is so stealthy. Could be a pickpocket that one" Ianto replied as she laughed some more.

"Like you ya little Hoodlum? Oh Teddy… Well, thanks for this. Are you sure it's OK?"

"No it's not. It's terrible really, I might need therapy for having to deal with this" Ianto again blandly grumbled and Rhiannon giggled all the way through the hallway to the kitchen where the little note writer was sitting in front of the telly (too close by Ianto's standard), her head swivelling to see who was at the door and lighting up.

"Uncle!"

"Poppet."

Mica rushed to him and cuddled to him even as the boy on the sofa playing the video game his sister had been watching simply grunted without looking away from the screen.

"Hello David."

"Eh."

Ianto tried not to frown, knowing this was not the boy's fault. Rhiannon believed in a …er… relaxed method of parenting. And then there was the boy's father. He was a feckless prick and Ianto hated comparing but saw a lot of him in the boy. Saw himself too but mostly a Feckless Bastard in training.

Ianto watched his sister get ready for her night out with the girls, since she and Johnny decided to call it quits she had really started to come out of herself. Meanwhile Ianto knew for a fact Johnny and the Barmaid at the Pig n Whistle were not doing so well. She wanted a married man, one who gave his pay check over and then fucked off home to lie to his missus that the bookie had taken it. She didn't want a fat feckless fucker on her sofa with the TV remote.

And secretly, he was pleased with this turn of events. He just hoped she didn't weaken, she had promised not to. Once the hitting starts… it doesn't stop. Not really.

They both knew that from their own Da.