gothams3rdrobin | Amser A Ddengys: Croeso Nôl (4/5)

Please see Part One for header and disclaimer.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"You might as well ask me, you know."

"Ask you what?" Ianto feigned ignorance well, but Jack wasn't fooled.

"The reason why I left."

Ianto shrugged, settling himself more comfortably on the sofa, "The Doctor came back for you."

Jack shook his head, "Actually, he tried to get away before I could reach him."

Ianto's eyes widened, "Is that why the CCTV showed you jumping onto the TARDIS when it started to dematerialise? He wouldn't wait for you?"

Jack nodded, sipping his coffee carefully, "How much do you know about the TARDIS?"

His companion smirked, "I worked for Torchwood One, remember? Our orientation briefing included an hour on the Doctor and his time machine. Which I note you took out of the files here."

That brought a derisive snort from Jack. "Yeah, our ‘number one enemy'." His tone dripped with sarcasm. Ianto's smirk widened.

"I was curious about this arch-enemy of ours, so I did some research of my own. Found it very hard to believe that someone so dangerous would work with UNIT so regularly as a ‘scientific liaison'."

"Doctor ‘John Smith'." Jack nodded, having seen the UNIT files for himself.

"The man's appearance changed a few times," Ianto noted, "But the reports never indicated a change in personnel, so to speak."

"He had a different face when I knew him," Jack agreed, wistful, "Dark, slightly receding hair, big ears…"

"I've seen the photos. You look slightly different yourself, considering they were only taken in 2005."

At first Jack was surprised, thinking he'd managed to hide or erase anything linking him to the Doctor, then he chuckled. He couldn't find it in himself to mind that Ianto knew – it was kinda nice, actually.

"That was several lifetimes ago, to me."

"How long, Jack?" Ianto's expression was earnest; he really wanted to know. And, it seemed, Jack was ready to tell him.

"A hundred and thirty eight years." He didn't even need to think about it, "Thirty-nine, actually, but the last year never actually happened. I'll explain some other time," He promised, at his companion's puzzled expression.

"You've been living in linear time since-"

"1869, yes. Had to wait a hundred years for the ‘Summer Of Love'." Jack grinned at Ianto's chuckle, "It was over-rated, I can tell you!"

"So you're approximately a hundred and sixty years old?" Ianto shook his head in bemusement.

"Looking good for it too!" Jack waggled his eyebrows.

"Mmmmm." Was the only response, as Ianto sipped his own coffee.

"You're not weirded out at having been with someone old enough to be your great-great grandfather?" The teasing tone in Jack's voice attempted to hide his insecurities over Ianto's possible reply.

Ianto thought about it for a long moment. Then, just as Jack was reaching the end of his nerve, he smiled softly. "Technically, Jack, you haven't even been born yet. Am I right?"

The older man beamed, "Oh, the Doctor would love you, Ianto Jones. In another life, you could have been a companion. A good one, I'll wager."

Ianto nearly choked on his coffee. "Me?" He spluttered, "Travel on the TARDIS?"

"You'd love it!" Jack enthused, "She's like nothing you've ever seen – or ever will. And the places she can go…she could take you to the lost library at Alexandria." He knew that would appeal to the former archivist-turned-museum-employee.

Ianto groaned in appreciation of the idea, closing his eyes for a moment. This sent Jack's thoughts south, but he managed to maintain some semblance of control.

"Who knows," he said, once he trusted his voice would remain steady, "Maybe next time he visits I can talk him into a quick trip." He decided not to mention that ‘quick trips' in the TARDIS often included at least one life-threatening encounter.

"Don't try and tempt me Jack," Ianto warned, "I've made a life for myself away from all that."

"Are you really living, Ianto?"

"As much as the next person, yes. I just know things they don't, is all."

"And you're happy with that? You don't miss it?"

"Miss cleaning up after you lot? Bringing you coffee and food on demand with barely any acknowledgement, on top of maintaining the archives and pretending to be a Tourist Bureau?" Ianto's tone was light, but his eyes belied his good humour. Jack sighed.

"We didn't treat you that well, did we? You were so good at fading into the background, we stopped noticing you."

"To start with, that's exactly how I wanted it." Ianto pointed out, "The less attention you all paid me, the more time I could spend checking on Lisa."

Jack acknowledged that with a nod. The issue of Lisa had been resolved between them shortly before they'd taken their relationship to the next level; before Ianto had challenged Jack to prove he wasn't all talk and no action, after so long flirting. Sure, getting propositioned over Suzi Costello's body had been unexpected, and it had taken Jack a moment to realise what Ianto was offering. But Jack had been more than willing to follow through.

Before they could get to that point, however, there had been long conversations over whiskey in Jack's office late at night, or over beer at the Eli Jenkins across from the Water Tower. Jack had come to accept that Ianto's actions, foolish though they were, had been out of love for Lisa. Ianto, in turn, had come to accept that she had probably died all those months before, at the Battle of Canary Wharf. All he had been left with was a shell willing to deceive him in order to ensure survival.

"Even so," Jack said, lightly running his hand down Ianto's arm, "I'm sorry."

"Why did you go?" Ianto asked.

"I needed answers, and I thought the Doctor could provide them. I had to leave suddenly, in order to catch him before he left without me. Again."

"Again? He's abandoned you before?" Ianto looked horrified.

Jack sighed, "I can see I'm going to have to tell you the whole story, and that's going to take a while. How about we get some more coffee and make ourselves comfortable?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~

A little while later, Jack and Ianto were once more settled on the large sofa in the living room, with coffee and biscuits on the side table and Cole Porter playing quietly on the little stereo. Jack explained all about working for the Time Agency, his missing two years, and the final con-job during the London Blitz that had gone so horribly wrong. He talked about his travels with the Doctor and Rose; especially the two day pit-stop in Cardiff and the events on the Gamestation.

"I swear to god, they had this ray that disintegrated every stitch of clothing I had – live on television!" he exclaimed, making Ianto laugh with his description of the Trinny and Susannah droids. "What could I do, other than say ‘Ladies, your viewing figures just went up!'"

"Only you, Jack." Ianto chuckled, wiping tears of laughter from the corner of his eye. This went a long way to explain Jack's irrational hatred of Trinny and Susannah

But Jack hadn't finished his tale, explaining about the confrontation with the Daleks which resulted in his extermination, only to be brought back to life minutes later surrounded by Dalek dust.

"I ran for the TARDIS, but missed her by seconds. I was very hurt, thinking the Doctor had abandoned me."

"Was it possible he didn't know?"

"In my more charitable moments, I wondered that," Jack admitted, "He would have heard me die over the comm. system. I suppose the possibility kept me from going too far under."

"So what happened when you finally caught up with him?"

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair, "It turned out he'd known all along; Rose absorbed the TARDIS's energy and used it to destroy the Daleks, but also to bring me back. Only she didn't know what she was doing and brought me back permanently."

"Which is why you keep coming back from the dead."

"Exactly. The Doctor called me a ‘fixed point in space and time', which is apparently against Time Lord philosophy. So he couldn't bear to even look at me." Jack exhaled shakily, "I loved him, Ianto. He turned me from an angry, two-bit conman into a decent human being, and then abandoned me because of some stupid prejudice."

"I hope you decked him one!" grumbled Ianto, angry on Jack's behalf. The older man chuckled.

"We talked it over – while there was a door and lethal levels of radiation between us." Jack grinned at Ianto's perplexed frown and gave an ‘I'll elaborate later' gesture, "After that, we were fine. But I knew things could never be as they were before; this was a totally different guy, both physically and in attitude, and he made me realise that I wasn't the same person either. It's only been a couple of years from his perspective, but more than a century for me. That changes a person."

"Do you still love him?" Ianto asked, his tone uncertain whether he really wanted to hear the answer.

"Do you still love Lisa?" Jack countered.

"Point." The young Welshman conceded, pouring himself some more coffee.

"I'll always love him," Jack gratefully accepted a refill of his own, "But it's not as all-encompassing as it was. I'm not in love with him anymore, if I ever was."

Ianto seemed happy enough with that, and changed the conversation away from Jack's infatuation with the Doctor to the recent adventures he'd had with the Time Lord and his companion.

"Martha's a lovely girl," Jack enthused, "Very different to Rose. I hope you get to meet her some day, ‘cause you're sure to get on."

"I'd like that." Ianto smiled softly.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"There's clean linen on the bed," Ianto advised, back in host mode, as he opened the door of the guest bedroom, "If you want to take a shower in the morning, the towels are in the airing cupboard on the landing." He indicated the built-in cupboard in the wall alongside the bathroom door.

"Thank you." Jack said sincerely, hiding his sadness at being left alone for the remainder of the night, "I could have crashed on the sofa watching movies till you woke, you know."

Ianto shook his head, "This is an old house, sound travels pretty clearly and I need my sleep. The only reason I had an early finish today, as well as tomorrow off, is because I've done double shifts for the last fortnight. There's been a virus going around."

Jack frowned in sympathy, "And you've let me keep you up talking this late? You should have said something!"

Ianto smiled, "You didn't force me to stay awake. I've missed you."

Jack returned his smile happily, "Me too."

"Well, goodnight Jack." Ianto leaned forward and enveloped him in a bear hug, and Jack was more than willing to wrap his arms around him in response. He held him close and savoured the warm, clean scent that was uniquely Ianto, storing the sense memory in case he couldn't do this again.

"Sleep well, cariad." He leaned back, releasing him, and ran a thumb down Ianto's cheek. Ianto shuddered, not pulling away but also not making any move of his own. Instead, he smiled that soft, sexy smile Jack adored, before turning to enter his own room. As the door closed behind him, Jack sighed softly, knowing this would be a long night. But he was content, for the moment, just to be in Ianto's company.

He entered the guest bedroom and stripped down to his boxers before climbing into the bed. It had been a few days since he'd last tried to sleep, so he figured it couldn't hurt.

However, instead of the anticipated restless night, the next thing Jack was aware of was the smell of frying bacon. He sat up, startled at having actually slept for – he checked his watch – five hours!

There was a spare dressing gown hanging on the back of the door so Jack slipped it on and padded downstairs. He entered the kitchen, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Ianto smiled, glancing over his shoulder as he stood at the cooker preparing breakfast.

"Mornin'," Jack yawned, "I thought it was your day off? It's only seven."

Ianto shrugged, "Old habits. Can't stay in bed late nowadays. Are you hungry?"

"Famished, actually."

"Well, sit down then." Ianto nodded towards the kitchen table. He then began dishing out the bacon and a pan of scrambled eggs. Jack cheerfully helped himself to some coffee from the pot on the table and reverently took a sip. He truly had missed Ianto's coffee, especially first thing in the morning. Ianto chuckled, sitting down to eat his own breakfast.

"What are your plans for today?" he asked. Jack chewed thoughtfully.

"I honestly hadn't thought about it," He admitted, "I was expecting to find things close to how I remembered it, and that I would get back into the swing of life at Torchwood."

"And now?" pressed Ianto. Jack shrugged.

"I don't know. I ought to get back to work soon, but I want to spend time with you too. Since I can't do both simultaneously anymore, I'm in no hurry to get back to the Hub."

"Who knows you're back?"

"Just you and Tosh, unless she told Owen. Or he's checked the CCTV for yesterday morning."

Ianto frowned, "Wouldn't he have tried to call you by now?"

"Possibly," Jack polished off the last of his bacon, his expression slightly smug, "But I left my mobile in my coat pocket. And that's down in my room."

Ianto smirked, picturing the annoyance on Owen's face. He finished his own food and began cleaning away, "At least that shows you're planning to go back. So, what to do with our day off?"

Jack rose to help, biting back the instinct to describe exactly what he'd like them to spend the day doing. Ianto, knowing his tells, gave him a warm, grateful smile at his self-control.

"We can take a walk over to the lake," Ianto suggested, "It's looking like another nice day today, and those are too rare around here to waste indoors."

"You want to go feed the ducks?" Jack teased, grinning. Ianto shrugged, eyes twinkling.

"It'll use up the last of a loaf I have going stale," he replied, practical as ever. "Plus you get to buy me an ice-cream."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Concluded in Part Five