Title: The odd couple

'Tosh and Owen, take the north. Ianto and Jack go west. Me and Vera'll take the docks,' Gwen announced.

Jack should have been thrilled by the chase of yet another adventure. It was different this time. No Doctor, no world ending as such, just the usual brand of Torchwood chaos that he'd come to love. He hadn't realised just how much he'd missed it until it had all been taken away from him during the Year That Never Was. All he wanted to do was get back home and pick up things from right where he'd left off. Then things had all gone sideways when John turned up.

He'd expected just to walk straight back in through the door and have everything revert to normal. Wasn't that what he and Martha and The Doctor had sacrificed everything for? So that life would go back to how it had been before The Master?

Instead, he found himself standing on the outside looking in. The team had carried on without him, somehow having accepted that he had left them and wasn't coming back. That hurt. He'd always intended coming back. Well, he was fairly sure he would have come back. The Doctor had his TARDIS after all. He could be back five minutes after he'd left and no one needed to be any the wiser that he'd been gone for weeks, months, years maybe. He should have known that staying away for more than a few days would hurt more than he'd expected. After a whole year away, he didn't ever want to leave them again. The memories of watching The Master kill his team in front of him were still raw, yet here they were standing in front of him, happy and whole.

Jack should have been excited to be paired up with Ianto on his first mission back, but instead he felt nervous. Was this Gwen trying to flex her new leadership muscle, teaming herself up with John? Was it that she didn't trust Jack to join forces with John? Or was she trying to send him a message that he needed to make things right with Ianto? He couldn't be sure.

The silence in the car was deafening. Instead of falling into old familiar patterns, Ianto grabbed the keys and marched purposefully toward the SUV, sliding easily into the driver's seat. Jack had always driven before. This was a new development, or one that had perhaps evolved out of necessity. It hadn't taken long for Jack to realise that the team dynamics had changed, and that Ianto had stepped up in the world.

It wasn't entirely unexpected. He may have been their backup support at the hub when the rest of them were out and about, but whenever he and Jack had paired up in the past to handle minor issues or things outside of normal hours, he was as much a member of the team as any of them. Jack supposed it had taken his absence for the rest of the team to see that. Elsewise, why would he have been the one standing there with his gun poised at the blowfish, ready to take it out while the rest of the team did what they did best.

He almost regretted stealing Ianto's thunder, taking the shot now. Perhaps Ianto was annoyed with him for having to always be the centre of attention, making his grand entrance back into the team he'd abandoned. If he did, he didn't show it, but then with Ianto, he rarely ever did. It was one of the things Jack found endearing and infuriating all at the same time. He wished he knew what Ianto was thinking now.

"I came back for you." He wished he'd left it at that, instead of trying to save Ianto's blushes and his own awkwardness by appending the words "all of you". Yes, he'd come back for all of them, but it was Ianto that made his heart pound in his chest whenever he pictured him. How could he have ever thought he could leave him behind, even for a second.

Whatever Gwen's reasons for putting the pair of them together on this task, he wasn't about to waste it.

'We're here,' Ianto announced, as he pulled the car up to a stop just outside the office building.

Jack blinked, unaware how long he must have been lost in his own thoughts.

'Good,' he said. 'Let's find this thing and go home.'

John being here was a complication he didn't need. Where he'd wanted the team to welcome him back with open arms, they were mad at him for leaving, and made worse by John being here, forcing him to keep all of his secrets close to his chest, not letting them in for even a second on his past, and who he'd been before Torchwood. If they knew that, they might never forgive him.

As they stood in the lift, Jack watched the numbers tick upwards. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ianto's gaze was firmly fixed on the phone in front of him, so he shut it instead. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to say. Then he said it anyway.

'I missed you all.'

Ianto paused, the grip around his phone tightening slightly. Just not enough to come back, he thought. 'We missed you too,' he replied, leaving it at that as the elevator pinged.

Why the hell had Gwen lumped him with Jack? In his mind he knew why. You teamed up the weakest members of the team with the strongest ones. That was why any time they went out and were forced to split up, Gwen lead one team and Owen lead the other. He and Tosh would be allocated one or the other. Hardly ever was it that he got paired up with Tosh, unless of course it was because they were both going to be left behind somewhere safe.

That had been Gwen's logic. Tosh with Owen, Jack to babysit him, and she would tackle John Hart. Good luck to her, he thought. From what he'd seen so far, even Jack had trouble reining him in. Was there more to it that that? Did she not want John and Jack together, in case Jack should decide to take off again? Maybe she thought Ianto was the babysitter, and not the other way around. He didn't want to let Jack out of his sight, but at the same time, being this close after months apart was bordering on claustrophobic. How did Jack do that? Suck all the air out of the room with his mere presence?

He didn't know what to think now that Jack was back. Things has been left in such an awkward place before he'd gone. He'd just outed them in front of the rest of the team, and then disappeared somewhere between passionate "resurrected from death" kiss, and "I could really use a coffee".

Everyone thought they were an item now, or had been. In truth, Ianto wasn't sure what they were. A pair of people who occasionally fucked because they were screwed up and had no one else. And because it was convenient; no strings attached. At least he thought that was what it had been. He probably should have known it was more when they hadn't just stopped at doing it once or twice. He suspected thought that he'd read too much into it, dwelling on those thoughts for the past umpteen months. If it had meant more, then why would Jack have left and not come back? He could understand the leaving part; it was the not coming back part that had hurt. Now Jack was here, larger than life, expecting everything to go back to the way it had been. Ianto wasn't sure he could. The elevator pinged and he stepped out, glad for a bit of space.

'Oh, yeah. Loving that officy feel,' Jack said. 'I always get excited in these places. To me, they're exotic. Office romances. Photocopying your butt. Well, maybe not your butt, although as we're here why don't we photo,'

Office romances? The idea made Ianto want to laugh. Was that what they'd been? Something exotic? Some thing to distract Jack from the mundane, dull and tedious Torchwood workday? A flight of fancy? Another mark on the wall for Captain Jack Harkness and nothing more? Nice guys finish last, Jones, just remember that. Angry at himself, he interrupted, changing the subject.

'The rift was active at these coordinates approximately two hundred feet above ground. That means this floor or the roof.'

What? Why was Jack looking at him like that?

'How are you, Ianto?'

'All the better for having you back, sir.' Funny how the dissembling came so easily to him. Months of practice with the team, diverting away conversations any time they began heading in Jack's general direction and "that kiss" had made him an expert. Was he really happy to have Jack back, or had months of being separated changed the way he saw things, saw them? Assuming there was a them. Everything had happened so quickly that he hadn't had more than a few moments to think about it. Perhaps, once this was all over...

Sir? How was it that Ianto was singularly capable of hitting Jack where it hurt the most? They'd started... something. There was no denying that. He wasn't sure what it was, but with all the time he'd had over the past year to think about it, he knew that he wanted to see where it would go. He couldn't bear the thought of Ianto shutting him out now.

'Can we maybe drop the sir, now? I mean, while I was away, I was thinking, maybe we could, when this is all done... Dinner? A movie?' Truth was, he'd probably never done the right thing by Ianto, always taking him for granted, but that didn't mean he couldn't start as of now. The Doctor had given them all another chance to start the year afresh.

The question floored Ianto. He'd tried so hard to keep his feelings in check. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, or, maybe yell and punch Jack for being such an idiot. How did he think he could just swan back into their lives and pretend nothing had changed? Everything had changed, even if he hadn't wanted it to. Bloody Gwen! Why couldn't she have teamed him up with anyone else but Jack? He'd have rather taken on John Hart. At least he knew he couldn't trust John. Jack he wasn't so sure of. How could you trust someone you barely knew, who could up and leave without so much as a word? He wanted to give Jack the benefit of the doubt. Jack had been the one to give him a second chance - a chance he probably didn't deserve - and then he'd gone and tested the limits of Jack's generosity by getting into a physical relationship with him. Of all the stupid...

'Are you asking me out on a date?' Had he really just said that? Surely Jack had meant the words in jest. In about two seconds Jack was going to burst out laughing at him. He was an idiot if he thought Jack wasn't pulling his leg.

'Interested?' Please, Ianto. I need you to say yes. I messed up so many times, I need to make this right between us.

'Well, as long as it's not in an office. Some fetishes should be kept to yourself.' Jesus Christ, Jones. Could you be more of a complete knob? He'll probably change his mind now. Who'd want to go out with a twat like you?

Was that a yes? Jack wasn't sure. Why couldn't Ianto ever just say what he meant? He paused for a second, waiting for Ianto to add on some further clarification. When it didn't eventuate, he wasn't sure what to do next. He'd never been this backward in coming forward before. Why was Ianto the one so singularly complicated thing in his life? Why couldn't John have just stayed wherever he'd been and not waltzed back into Jack's world? He didn't trust him for a second. The other shoe hadn't dropped yet, but there was clearly more to it than a few missing cannisters. This was just something he really didn't need right now.

'Looks like we're gonna have to go through every drawer, bin and plant pot.'

Stupid, stupid stupid. Should've just grabbed Ianto and kissed him in the lift. Is it too late for that? Jack wondered. Talk to me, Ianto. Play it cool, laugh in my face, yell at me, whatever. Just don't shut me out with that butler facade you love so much.

'Right, okay. I'll do this floor. Don't want you getting overexcited.' Shut up, now. Whenever did you get such a colossally big mouth to shove your feet into? 'You take the roof. You're good on roofs.' In short, I need you out of here before I say anything else completely stupid.

The roof. Good idea, Ianto. Yeah, normally I like to stand up there and contemplate life. Right now I might just throw myself off, though. This wasn't how I pictured coming back. I wanted you to be happy to see me.

'Jack?'

Yes Ianto? his eyes pleaded.

'W-, why are we helping him?' He could barely force the words out. It wasn't the question he'd meant to ask. He'd chickened out at the last moment and asked something far more harmless. Part of him didn't want to know the answer. Jack was going to tell him that he and John were still a thing. The dinner and movie thing was probably just to spare his feelings. John will be joining us later for a threesome, you okay with that?

'He's a reminder of my past. I want him gone.' I need him gone. I have some many bridges to mend and now I have a dozen more, all because I couldn't keep the past dead and buried. Ianto's expression seemed concerned, and a little lost, as if he no longer knew where he fitted into this new reality of Jack being back, and John being on the scene. It filled Jack with a small amount of hope. If Ianto felt enough to be jealous of John... Now was the time to go for broke. He gripped the edge of the door hard, scared to ask the question.

'By the way, was that a yes?' Please, please, say yes.

'Yes. Yes.' Yes, whatever that means. Please just go before I ruin everything and say something I can't take back.

Jack knew it was wrong, but he couldn't hide that little smirk of satisfaction at hearing the word. He didn't need the roof now, he felt like he was on cloud nine. Now all he had to do was get rid of John.

Ianto let out a long breath as he heard the door shut behind Jack. What had he just agreed to? He wasn't sure anymore. He supposed it didn't matter. He'd have said yes to anything Jack asked of him. Throw yourself off the roof, Jones? Yes, please. Just get out of here before I come over there and kiss you, you idiot.

Perhaps he could forgive Gwen for pairing them up just this once. He only hoped he wouldn't come to regret it.