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The Ballad of Jack & Ianto - part 2
Title: The Ballad of Jack & Ianto
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: NC 17
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood belongs to BBC
Summary: The story of Jack & Ianto's relationship. Continues from Random shoes to post season one.


Part one



Ianto had been given the weekend off as had the rest of them. Gwen was away on some mission to find out the truth about Eugene’s death and as there was nothing else going on at the moment, Jack had sent them all home but had asked them to remain in Cardiff just in case.

And so Ianto found himself going to his sister’s for Sunday lunch for the first time in almost a year. His entire family was there, his parents, his other sister and her boyfriend and his nephews, one was eleven (and had turned into a little shit) and the other was six and his new baby niece who was three months old was there too.

“You’ll never guess who’s getting married,” his Mam had said as they all gathered in the kitchen (well he, his two sisters and his Mam did) to do the washing up.

“Who?” Ianto asked distractedly as he fed his niece Cara.

“Emily Lorimer,”

Ianto frowned. Emily had been his girlfriend in high school and they hadn’t spoken since she snogged Billy Reid behind his back when they were seventeen, “Is she?” he asked not really caring.

“Yup. Her Mam’s ever so excited. Of course then we got to chatting about when you two had been together and she asked if you were still single,” his Mam said.

Oh here we go. He had been wondering how long this would take.

“Why would she want to know that?” Ianto asked. Cara had finished her bottle so he propped her up on his shoulder and began burping her.

“Well, it’s not just her,” his eldest sister Rhiannon said, “It’s all of us,”

Ianto looked between the two and then at his younger sister Lowri (he was in the middle), “We don’t get to see you often and we just don’t like the thought of you on your own,” she said.

Ianto sighed, “I’m not on my own,” he told them, “Not really,”

“What do you mean?” his Mam asked.

“I don’t really have time for a proper relationship. Not with my job,” he explained, “But I do have a lover if that’s any consolation,”

“A lover?” Lowri asked with a frown, “That’s sounds so… old fashioned,”

Ianto shrugged, “It’s really the only word to describe us to be honest,”

“So what’s her name?” Rhiannon asked.

Ianto looked down at Cara who had just been sick on him, “Jack,” he said softly as he grabbed some kitchen towel and started to wipe the sick off him.

“Jack? As in Jacqueline?” his Mam asked.

“No, Jack as in Jack,” Ianto said with a wry smile, “Jack’s a he,”

His Mam had to grab hold of the worktop to stop herself from falling over, “A he? You mean you’re…”

“Bisexual? Yes,” Ianto said. He had wanted to tell his family for so long but he had always chickened out before. But now, after having been in so many near death situations lately he realised he didn’t want to die without his family knowing who he actually was.

“Oh,” Rhiannon said as she made sure their Mam was okay. Lowri just smiled at him, clearly finding the whole situations amusing.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Ianto asked them.

“What?” his Mam asked, “No don’t be daft. It’s just a bit of a shock. I mean, it’s not everyday you expect your son to come home and tell you he’s gay now is it?”

Ianto rolled his eyes, “I’m not gay, I’m…”

“Bisexual, yes you said that,” Rhiannon said with a smile, “Tad’s going to have kittens you know.”

Ianto shrugged, “Let him,” he said. He had never really gotten on well with his father and so really couldn’t care less what he thought.

“So um, this Jack,” his Mam started, “Do you work with him?”

“Yes, he’s my boss,” Ianto explained, trying not to smile at her wide eyes. He knew now of course that he was just doing it to get a reaction, but it was helluva funny.

“You’re boss?” Lowri shrieked, “You little hussy.”

“Hey, if you saw him you would too,” Ianto pointed out.

“Are we going to?” Rhiannon asked, “Will we be meeting him at all?”

Ianto frowned, “I doubt it. We’re not really like that. I mean you three are the first people that know about us, the rest of the people at work don’t know that we’re sleeping together.”

“Your boss?” his Mam asked him, finally getting her voice back, “I mean really son, if you insist on being gay why couldn’t you have got together with some nice lad who doesn’t get to decide whether he fires you or not.”

Ianto rolled his eyes ignoring the gay thing. Once his Mam had her mind set on something there was no changing it, “It’s like I said. I don’t get that much time to have a social life and so work is the only place I get the chance to meet anyone,”

“So what, you just have sex there on his desk?” Lowri joked. But Ianto’s blush made her smile disappear, “Oh my.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ianto sighed as Jack came back into the hub, stinking of petrol fumes.

“You try to kill yourself again?” he asked as Jack took off his coat and hung it up on the coat stand.

“No,” Jack said, “I just sat with him while he did it. Held his hand,” he explained as he slumped down on his chair behind his desk, “You been here all night?”

“Yes,” Ianto nodded, “Couldn’t really go anywhere without my car.”

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys to his own car, which rarely left the Torchwood garage, “You can borrow mine for now,” he said, “I’ll buy you a new one.”

“Jack?”

“I called the police. They have your car. Don’t worry I changed the name on the register so they’ll think it’s John’s car.”

Ianto frowned, “Why did you do that?”

“If I brought him back here, he would just end up in the vaults. He deserves a proper burial or cremation, whatever the authorities give him. And as for your car, well it’s wrecked. Trust me you’re better off with a new one.”

Ianto bit his lip. He had loved that car, “Right, well I’m going to my sisters.”

Jack looked up at him in confusion, “What for? Anything special?”

“It’s Christmas day Jack,” Ianto pointed out before placing a small wrapped package on the desk and left.

Jack watched him go and stared at the package. His car keys were lying next to it. Of course, Ianto wouldn’t need his car, he lived within walking distance so that meant that he had stayed to wait for Jack. He wasn’t too sure about what that meant, especially if there were gifts involved.

When Ianto got to his sisters he was beyond tired. He had gotten about three hours sleep earlier and it really wasn’t enough when you had to deal with hyperactive nephews and chatty sisters. He had dozed off whilst the Queen was on, only to be woken by the sound of his phone ringing.

“Jack?” he asked as he answered it, his family all looking at him curiously. So his brother in law and Dad had been informed about his little announcement last time he was here then.

“Hey, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about this morning,” Jack said, sounding a hell of a lot cheerier.

“That’s okay,” Ianto said as he stood and stepped out into the hallway where he could talk in private.

“No it’s not,” Jack said, “I should have called you and asked you about your car first but I thought you would’ve went home and I didn’t want to wake you, and then when I got back here my head was still fuzzy from the fumes and it took me a while to figure out why you waited.”

“Apology accepted,” Ianto said, smiling to himself.

“So uh, what time do you think you’ll be getting home tonight?” Jack asked him.

“Depends on how quickly I can get a taxi.”

“I can come pick you up,” Jack said, “Just give me a time and I’ll be there.”

Ianto smiled at that, “An hour then?” He suggested.

“An hour it is, oh what sister’s are you at? I got two addresses here.”

“Rhiannon’s in Tremorfa.”

“Okay, see you later then.”

When Ianto went back into the living room everyone turned to him expectantly.

“What?” he asked as he sat back down.

“So, was that Jack then?” Rhiannon asked.

Ianto rolled his eyes, “Yes.”

“And?” Lowri asked.

“And it’s none of your business,” Ianto told them.

However when Jack tooted the horn of the SUV, as much as Ianto would have liked his family to keep their noses to themselves, he knew it was a lost cause. He waved to them just as he was climbing into the car. Every single one of them (even his father) was at the window watching him.

“What’s with the audience?” Jack asked as Ianto opened the door.

Ianto shooed him back in so that his family wouldn’t see him, “They just want to see what you look like,” Jack raised an eyebrow at that, “I told them I was sleeping with you.”

“Oh, um…”

“You don’t have to meet them. Don’t worry. They were just badgering me about my love life.”

“Oh right. Oh well then,” Jack said with a grin as he started up the car.

When they got back to Ianto’s, Jack gave him his gift. It was a pocket watch, “Since you’ve taken to wearing waist coats, I thought it would look good.”

Ianto smiled, “Thank you,” he said as he pulled Jack into a kiss, “Now, I think we should give you the rest of your gift.”

“There’s more?” Jack asked as he let Ianto drag him into the bedroom.

“Oh yeah,” Ianto said as he pulled out a small package from his bedside drawer and handed it to Jack. Jack practically tore the paper off and grinned like a maniac when he saw what was inside.

“Chocolate body paint!”

…………………………………………………………………………………………

“What’s he doing?” Jack asked as Ianto came back up the stairs from the cells, leaving Owen there on his own.

“Not sure,” Ianto said with a shrug as he planted himself down on the seat opposite Jack, “Says he just wants a moment alone with them.”

Jack frowned. He didn’t really like the sound of that.

“We’re going to the pub,” Gwen said as she popped her head in the door, “You fancy it?”

Ianto looked at Jack who shrugged, “Sure. Just give me a couple of minutes,” Jack said as he began tidying up his desk.

“Ianto?” Gwen asked.

“Um, okay,” Ianto nodded. He had never been to the pub with them before. This would be interesting.

Gwen smiled and left, shouting over to Owen who had just came back up from the cells, “You coming for a drink?” she asked him.

When they got to the pub the five of them squeezed into a small booth, “I’ll get the first round,” Jack said as he dumped his coat on the seat and headed over to the bar. Everyone then turned to look at Ianto.

“So, how are things with you two?” Gwen asked with a smile.

“Sorry?” Ianto asked in confusion.

“Oh don’t give us that Ianto,” Owen said, “We all know you two are shagging.”

Ianto didn’t say anything to that except raise an eyebrow and answered his phone that had started ringing, “Yeah?”

“So they asked you about us yet?” Jack’s voice asked.

Ianto smiled, “How did you guess?”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. Why what do you want me to say?”

“Nothing’s good for me,” Jack said before hanging up.

Ianto grinned and put his phone away.

“Who was that?” Tosh asked.

“A friend,” was all Ianto said as Jack came over with their drinks.

As Ianto walked back to his with Jack his phone beeped.

“Did you just beep?” Jack asked with a smile.

“My phone,” Ianto said as he pulled it out. He had a text message, “It’s from Owen. He’s asking why we left together if we’re not shagging.”

Jack laughed, “Just cause his love life is shit, he needs to stick his nose into everyone else’s.”

Ianto laughed with him as he deleted the message and put his phone back in his pocket.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ianto woke with a start when he heard banging at his front door.

“You expecting visitors?” Jack asked him. He already had his gun in his hand.

“No, just… wait here,” Ianto said as he pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms and headed out into the hall. Jack watched from the bedroom as Ianto peered through the peep hole and frowned, “Lowri?” he asked in surprise as he opened the door.

“Hi, can I come in?” Lowri asked wiping at her eyes. She had clearly been crying about something.

“Of course,” Ianto said as he stood back. He guided her into the living room and as she sat down he turned on the light, gasping as he finally got to see her face properly, “Oh my god Lowri what happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Lowri said as she tried to hide her face, “Just an accident.”

Ianto frowned, “An accident?”

“He didn’t mean to he just…”

“I’ll fucking kill him,” Ianto said as he stood. But Lowri grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, “You wont do anything,” she said, “I’ve left and I don’t want him to have anything more to do with me or my family. Understood?”

“Lowri, have you seen yourself…” Ianto paused and looked behind him at Jack who was stood in the doorway. Thankfully he had put some clothes on, “Jack, can you just give us a minute?”

Lowri’s head spun as she turned to look at Jack, “Oh Ianto, I’m sorry I didn’t think. You said it was just…”

“Lowri it’s fine,” Ianto said calming her.

“I just thought you might want this,” Jack said as he handed Ianto the first aid kit from his bathroom.

“Thank you,” Ianto said. Jack nodded at him before leaving the room again.

Lowri watched Ianto watch Jack, “It’s more than just a fling now isn’t it?” she asked.

Ianto snorted, “Hardly,” he muttered as he begun rummaging through his first aid kit, “He just has a nice ass.”

Lowri smiled, “I noticed. You weren’t wrong when you said he was hot.”

“Yes, well,” he said as he turned to look at Lowri’s face, “I’m not very good with this stuff. A doctor would be better.”

“I’m not going to hospital,” Lowri said starting to panic now.

“Okay, okay. Just wait here,” Ianto said as he got up and went to find Jack. He was in the kitchen making tea.

“She alright?” Jack asked.

“Her boyfriend beat her up Jack. What do you think?”

Jack nodded and handed Ianto his tea, “Sorry. You want me to go have a word with him?”

“No,” Ianto said with a shake of his head, “I’ll do it. Just… can you have a look at her face? I’m not very good at doing dressings.”

Jack smiled, “I remember,” he said before placing a soft kiss on Ianto’s lips. Ianto then led the way back into the living room where he sat down on a different seat than before whilst Jack sat next to Lowri.

“Hi,” he said with a smile.

“Hi,” Lowri said, blushing slightly under Jack’s gaze.

“I’m going to dress your wounds okay?” he said as he pulled on a pair of gloves. Jack couldn’t help but wonder where Ianto got all this equipment. He would need to have a word with him about taking home Torchwood supplies.

Lowri sat completely still and allowed Jack to clean the cuts that were on her face and apply some plasters where they were needed.

“So um, you’re American then?” Lowri asked. Her eyes were closed so she couldn’t see the smile on Jack’s face but she could hear it.

“I am. Ianto not tell you that?” he asked, noting that Ianto was looking rather uncomfortable at the conversation.

“He didn’t really tell us much. Just your name and that you were his boss.”

“I see,” Jack said as he finished, “All done.”

Lowri opened her eyes, “Really?” she asked in surprise, “I never felt a thing.”

Jack grinned, “I have magic fingers,” he said, waggling them as he stood, “I’m going back to bed,” he said to Ianto who just nodded.

When he was out of the room Lowri turned to her big brother again, “He’s nice. I like him.”

Ianto rolled his eyes, “Come on. You can kip in the spare room tonight.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………

“Jesus Ianto, what the hell did you do to your hands?” Gwen asked as she grabbed him to look properly at his injuries.

They were all up in the conference room and Ianto had been handing out coffee, forgetting about his bruised and cut fists for a moment.

“Oh um, I bruised them on someone’s face,” he said matter of factly.

Owen, Tosh and Gwen just stared at him in absolute surprise. But Jack didn’t even batter an eyelid, after all he had been waiting in the car whilst Ianto kicked the shit out of Lowri’s boyfriend.

“Who’s face?” Tosh asked.

Ianto ignored them and finished handing out the coffee before leaving the room.

“Jack?” Gwen asked.

“It’s none of your business Gwen,” Jack told her, “It has nothing to do with Torchwood so just leave it.”

“Is he in some kind of trouble?” Tosh asked.

“No,” Jack said, “Just don’t ever hurt anyone he loves or cares about,” he warned before turning to Owen, “Now what were you saying about the blood?”

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Ianto hadn’t actually realised just how strong his feelings for Jack were until he had thought that he and Tosh were going to be stuck in 1941. The thought of losing him without being able to tell him how he felt was a bit too much for him to take and so he had lashed out at Owen. Who in retrospect deserved it, but still, it wasn’t like him to punch let alone shoot his colleague.

When Jack had walked through the door with Tosh and Gwen, Ianto had wanted nothing more than to pull him into a tight embrace. But there was something about the way Jack was looking at anyone and anything but him that stopped him for a moment. Something had obviously happened and he wasn’t sure what it was, or that he wanted to know.

“You shot Owen,” Jack said a few hours later once everyone else had gone home.

“I was trying to stop him from opening the rift,” Ianto nodded. He was still sat at Tosh’s desk analysing the read outs that they were getting from the rift monitor.

Jack nodded, “Just, don’t do it again. If he moved at the last second you could’ve killed him.”

“I thought that in the grand scheme of things, one life for six billion would be acceptable.”

Jack sighed and looked away from him, “Go home Ianto. Get some sleep. I have a horrible feeling we’re going to be busy tomorrow.”

Ianto sat and watched as Jack went back into his office, closing the door behind him and then dropped down into his room. He wanted to go follow him, but it was obvious that Jack wanted to be on his own and so he instead wrote out a short letter to him, quietly made his way into his office and left it on the desk.

When Jack was sure that he was on his own he climbed back up into his office. He had heard Ianto come in here after he had hid and had thought that he was just clearing up quickly before he went home, but the flash of white paper on his desk stopped him in his tracks.

His name was written on the folded paper in Ianto’s neat handwriting. He lifted it up, scared to read it for some reason, but he swallowed his fear and opened it to see what it said.

“Jack,

I just wanted to say that I’m glad we got you back. I know that something happened and I understand that you might not want to talk about it. But I was so scared that I would never get to see you again that all I want to do is hold you and make everything better. However, you obviously need space and so I’ll see you in the morning,

Ianto xx”

Jack sighed and held the letter close to him. He was such a fool. How could he not realise what he had in front of him? Had he been walking about for the past five months with blinkers on?

Ten minutes later, Jack found himself outside Ianto’s door. It wasn’t too late so hopefully Ianto would still be awake. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Jack, are you alright?” Ianto asked as he opened the door wide enough for Jack to come in.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, “I just. I got your letter and I…” he paused not really knowing what else to say and so he rushed forward and captured Ianto in a fierce kiss.

Ianto wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck and kicked his door shut before pushing Jack down the hall towards the bedroom. Jack pushed his coat off himself as they walked and let Ianto pull the rest of it off. Ianto wasn’t wearing very much himself so he was naked in next to no time and then before he knew it, Jack was on his back, his legs wrapped tight around Ianto’s waist as Ianto made love to him.

It was the most wonderful feeling Jack had felt in a long, long time. To have someone pour that amount of emotion onto him whilst creating all sorts of pleasure was more than enough to push him over the edge. He tried to hold on, wait for Ianto but it was too much and all he could do was cling to Ianto as he continued to move within Jack.

Afterwards, Jack lay with his head on Ianto’s chest and let himself be held. Ianto was placing kisses on his head, neck and shoulders letting Jack know that he was wanted and would always be cared for.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ianto had thought everything was going to be okay. Jack had woken up and was already back to ordering them about. He had told them all to go get coffee. But Gwen had stayed behind. Ianto didn’t really mind much, he was too happy to mind but then… when he got back… he was gone. He had just left.

“The hand’s gone,” Tosh said.

They all turned to look at it simultaneously and true enough, it was no longer there. Ianto knew then and there what that meant.

“Ianto?” Gwen asked.

“We better tidy up,” he said as he set his and Jack’s coffee down and begun the process of clearing up.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for him?” Gwen asked.

“And how are we going to find him?” Ianto asked, not looking up from the files he was picking up, “He managed to disappear right under your nose Gwen, so really, if you have any ideas on how to track him, I’m sure they would be welcome!”

“I didn’t…”

“Gwen leave it,” Owen said as they watched Ianto storm off down to the archives.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Jack had been gone for six weeks now. Ianto had accepted that he wouldn’t be coming back any time soon after two weeks, when they had got back from the Himalayas and there hadn’t been so much as a peep of him.

“You alright love?” his Mam asked him.

He had the weekend off again. Gwen had made a point of them all living as normal lives as possible and so as it was his nephews seventh birthday he had come to his sisters for Sunday lunch. Lowri was dating again, a nice lad from Newcastle who she’d been seeing for a couple of weeks. He was in her class at university and Ianto had done a thorough check on him as well as the whole big brother threatening thing that he felt was his duty. And so, this lad (Ollie was his name) was over for lunch meeting them all for the first time – he had been warned not to mention his and Ianto’s previous meeting to anyone.

“I’m fine,” Ianto said with a sigh. They were all sat in the living room and Ianto had perched himself on the floor as he played with the now crawling Cara. His father, nephews and brother in law were out the back examining the new shed.

“You don’t sound it,” Rhiannon pointed out.

Ianto didn’t say anything just carried on playing with Cara.

“How’s Jack?” Lowri asked.

“Fine,” Ianto lied. He really had no idea how Jack was and something inside him told him that he wasn’t fine at all.

“You two not sleeping together anymore then?”

Ianto looked up at his little sister and noticed that Ollie was looking slightly uncomfortable, “Don’t worry,” he said, “You’re not my type.”

Ollie blushed at that and turned to Lowri who smiled, “Nah, you should see this Jack. He’s the complete opposite to you,” which was true as Ollie was rather short and blonde.

“Um, okay,” Ollie said, wondering just what that meant.

“He’s gone travelling for a bit,” Ianto explained. It used to bother him how much he would have to lie to his family, but now he didn’t even blink an eye.

“Oh right,” his Mam said, “Anywhere nice?”

Ianto shrugged, “Don’t know. They were just going to wing it.”

“They?” Rhiannon asked.

Ianto looked up at them then, “He’s off with his ex. At least I think he’s his ex. They might just be good friends. Jack never really talked about him.”

“Oh, but Lowri said you two were getting closer,” his Mam pointed out.

“Yeah well Lowri doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Ianto said as he stood and headed out to the garden. He hated thinking about Jack as it was all he seemed to do lately. Hopefully some blokey chat about sheds would take his mind off him.

THE END

A/N: I will be doing a sequel when Season 2 is finished. So keep your eyes peeled.