Title: Favourite things
Owen was forced to stop as Ianto stepped across his path, blocking the way. 'Have you seen Jack?'

'Why?'

Ianto waved a sheaf of small papers in his hand. 'I just realised that he doesn't have any of the new security and access codes. You know, since we got everything fixed.'

Owen groaned, the memory of their near destruction of the hub still fresh in his mind. If he'd thought getting the place fixed, windows replaced, broken debris cleared away and all new equipment installed was a pain in the arse, it was nothing compared to having to retcon all the workers who came in to do the job, and every time they brought someone in, having to remember that all his old access codes no longer worked. The computer system that maintained most of their security features had been heavily damaged by their opening of the rift and had to be completely replaced. Owen took Tosh at her word when she said that. No one knew their computer systems better than her, and they were probably due an upgrade, she confessed. Who the hell was going to argue with her. Certainly it wasn't as if Jack was there to tell her they couldn't afford it. He'd buggered off and left them to sort out everything. Typical. Couldn't leave them when everything was sorted. Had to walk out just as they were picking through the mess that, to be fair, they themselves had created. Still it rankled. Now that they had the place running smoothly again, Jack had swanned back in and just expected life to return to normal. It would serve him right if he got locked out of his own hub, Owen thought.

'I'd try the cells if I were you,' he suggested.

Ianto frowned at the response. 'The cells? What would he be doing down there?' He asked, as if he didn't trust Owen to know what he was talking about, or to give him a bum steer just for the sheer fun or it.

'It's where I saw Gwen headed, so, you know, makes sense.'

'Does it?'

'Well, she is his favourite.' She always had been since the first day she's stumbled onto a case by accident. Jack never paid the rest of them much mind, but he was always looking out for Gwen. It was slightly pathetic. If he was leading her on, it was only going to end in tears. Things always did with Jack. 'Bet those two have plenty to catch up on,' Owen said, as if that explained it.

Ianto frowned. 'No one's asked me for copies of all the mission reports since Jack left.'

'Oh, wake up, Teaboy. That's not what they're going to catch up on.' Owen gave a little smirk. 'Wonder how he's going to take the news she's getting hitched. He'll probably try and talk her out of it.'

Owen watched as Ianto's eyes flicked up towards the boardroom for a moment. That was where they'd left Captain John, assuming the bloke would stay there and not go off and cause trouble. Owen would have preferred them to cuff him to the table down in the interrogation room, but apparently Jack was back in charge again, so what Owen thought didn't count for much. Just like old times.

He felt a little sorry for Ianto. It was bad enough he had to deal with Jack going crawling off to schmooze with Gwen. Now he had some crazy ex boyfriend thrown into that mix as well. Poor bastard didn't stand a chance against those two. Not knowing Jack.

Oh, sure there'd been a point where he'd niggled at Ianto for the story of how the hell it was he and Jack had ever hooked up in the first place. What else was there to do when they were stuck on a stakeout together with no default entertainment option from Jack? Ianto was cagey about the whole thing but that hadn't stopped Owen from bringing it up at every opportunity. Of all the people Owen had banked on being the one Jack would pick as his favourite to shag, Ianto ran a dead last. He nagged and poked enough that Ianto finally lost patience with Owen and told him to bugger off and that it was none of anyone's business, least of all his. That attitude however had only lasted all of five minutes. The next day, Ianto had come by to apologise for his attitude and they really hadn't spoken about it since.

It was a sore point that Jack had left and no one was willing to poke the bear to see if it would bite again. Owen knew how pissed off he'd felt when Dianne had walked out on him. Who knew what a Teaboy would be thinking about Jack doing the same to him. He wasn't very good at sharing his feelings, though he clearly had some if that snog with Jack had been anything to go by. So much for still hurting over his last failed relationship. He'd moved on pretty quick by all accounts, unless Jack was just some rebound shag, but Owen didn't think so. Blokes like Ianto didn't do rebound relationships.

To his credit, Ianto didn't let Owen's remarks anger him. 'I know what you're trying to say, Owen. I'm not an idiot. You think that now Jack's back he and Gwen are going to pick up where they left off. Which is where exactly? She's not quite as screwed up as the rest of us. How Jack decides to deal with Gwen's news is his choice. I'm not going to go sit in a corner and cry about it if that's what you were hoping for. I don't even know…'

He didn't finish the sentence and Owen didn't press him. Clearly he'd grown up a fair bit in the last six months. Maybe he didn't want Jack back after everything. Owen could hardly blame the guy for moving on, at least in theory. None of them had seen it coming that Jack and Ianto would be… what? More serious than he'd expected, certainly. Owen's radar was really off because it hadn't even occurred to him that they might be up to something. Owen just assumed Ianto liked working late all the time. He was always at the hub, virtually like he lived there. That hadn't really stopped since Jack had upped and left. And Jack was pretty shameless when it came to teasing the Teaboy. Everyone knew that Jack didn't mean anything by it. In some ways it was a brilliant way to disguise the reality. Well played by the two masters of secrets.

Jack's words repeated in Owen's head. "I came back for you," quickly swept over by a clarifying "all of you" which Owen didn't believe for a second. It wasn't a Freudian slip. Owen just couldn't understand why Jack insisted on screwing things up all the time. Let Gwen have her happy ever after. God knew there was always a chance she'd get hit by something alien and end up with a third eye growing out of a stalk in her face, and end up half miserable like the rest of them. She didn't need Jack messing up her chance at normal. Ianto however seemed to have already tossed out any ideas about normal. It just didn't mean Jack got to take advantage of that fact.

'Just don't do anything stupid you might regret,' Owen warned him. Jack broke a lot of hearts and Owen didn't quite mind so much if it was only Gwen he let down. She already had more than the rest of them and should be bloody grateful for it. If he messed with Ianto, however, Owen wasn't going to be happy about it.

Ianto gave him a weak smile. 'I won't. One day at a time, yeah?'

'Yeah,' Owen said repeating the mantra that had gotten them through the last four months. It had become their little private joke, usually invoking it right when things were at their shittiest.

'Just remember you're my favourite. Even if you are an annoying prat.'

Owen snorted. 'Fat chance.' He glanced up at the boardroom again, seeing the filthy red coated man pressed against the glass, fogging it up with his breath and drawing rude things into it for their viewing pleasure. 'Mind you, I know who isn't, and if you want a hand breaking kneecaps…'

Ianto gave a pleased smirk. 'You'll be top of my list.' He wandered off with his bits of paper, humming something that Owen might have remembered from the Sound of Music.

Nothing like Torchwood being back to normal.