Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Ianto, Jack, OCs

Author: m_findlow

Rating: M

Length: 16,382 words

Content notes: non

Author notes: Written for Challenge 340 - Reunion

Summary: Ianto and Jack are out on a night down memory lane.

'What is that?' Jack asked, surprising Ianto by having managed to somehow sneak up on him without Ianto noticing. It was scary how good he was getting at doing that. Once upon a time, he couldn't have snuck up on Ianto if his life depended on it.

Ianto quickly tapped the keyboard, switching it from one application to another, like he'd been flipping between programs all morning. 'Nothing.'

Jack smirked as he folded his arms across his chest and leaned ever so casually against the desk. 'Ianto Jones, was that you on Facebook?'

He bristled, knowing he'd been rumbled. 'It's research.'

Jack leaned over and commandeered the keyboard even as Ianto was trying desperately to swat him away. 'Oh, you naughty little fibber! That's a high school Facebook page and, if I'm not mistaken, an invitation to a twenty year high school reunion.'

Ianto batted him away again. 'Stop your fussing. It just happened to pop up on my feed. I wasn't actually thinking of going.'

'Why not?'

'Why? Because Reunions are just an excuse for the beautiful, successful people to laud it over the rest of us.'

Jack leaned closer. Close enough that Ianto got a whiff of those aftershave replacing pheromones. 'Ianto, you are successful. And gorgeous. The lauding it over everyone else bit is totally optional.'

'Nope. Not my cup of tea.'

'Don't you wanna know what happened to all the people you went to school with?'

'Mostly they were twats.' Mostly, he expected them to be in prison.

'Yeah, but some of them might be really fat and ugly now.'

'You are so conceited, Jack Harkness. Only you would take pleasure in seeing someone fat and ugly.'

'What?' He tried in an innocent tone. 'It'd be poetic justice for some of them. I'll bet there are at least a few you're dying to know what happened to. People you wished maybe you'd kept in touch with?'

'Bit hard with having moved to London and all.'

'So, what better excuse than to catch up with them now, huh? They're here, you're here…'

'Not like I can tell them what I do, is it? Oh, yes, I work for Torchwood. Travel around in space and negotiate viral intergalactic trade deals whilst simultaneously stopping that world from ending every other week. You? Yes, well, don't feel bad. Packing shelves at Iceland is in my opinion a very important job. I mean, it'd just be chaos otherwise, wouldn't it? Boxes everywhere, meat rotting unrefrigerated next to the boxes of cornflakes. Not a price tag to be seen. Utter carnage.'

Jack rolled his eyes at Ianto's dry wit, well accustomed to his rambling sarcasm.' It's one night of your life. What's the harm? As your boss, I'm officially giving you the night off work to attend.'

'Couldn't have a trip to Spain instead, could I?'

Jack grinned. 'Sorry. One night only. You won't get a better offer than that. Look, it even says bring your partner or plus one, so you won't be going in there alone.'

Ianto gave him a sceptical look. 'You want to go to a high school reunion?'

'Sure. Why not? Anything for you.'

'We'd be going together… to my school reunion?'

Jack tried to ruffle his hair but Ianto dodged his hand. 'Oh, come on. It's not like you'd even be pretending we're together.'

'I don't have to pretend,' Ianto teased. 'Not when you shove it in my face every five minutes of every day.'

'You should go. It'll be fun.'

'Fun is one thing I'm pretty sure it won't be.'



Canton High School looked just like any other. Plain rectangular buildings surrounded by featureless spans of grass and bitumen courtyards, and squeezed between two main arterial roads. It was not winning any architectural awards, and in Ianto's day, no academic ones either. He'd driven past it a million times on his way somewhere more important and scarcely gave it a glance. He certainly wasn't hankering an urge to walk its hallowed halls again.

All the signs were dual lingual now, putting an emphasis on the fact that even though it wasn't a Welsh language school, Welsh was being preserved. These days Ianto figured there'd be every other language but Welsh featured in a school out in this area of town. It was a multicultural hub, and a far cry from the rough and tumble Welsh heartland of his childhood, even if that element still remained, though not as prominently as before.

'This is a bad idea,' Ianto declared, sitting in the passenger seat as Jack pulled their less conspicuous SUV into the car park. At least this one didn't have the word "Torchwood'' emblazoned all over it in bright yellow paint. It was an unmarked Range Rover, black of course, but still with a reasonable amount of kit for the job. Ianto called it his baby; just not where any self respecting person might hear him.

Jack didn't let Ianto's lack of enthusiasm quell his own. 'Well, we're here now. Just think of it as a party. Free food, free booze, mindless smalltalk. Maybe even a little dancing?' Jack looked ridiculously hopeful regarding the latter.

'It's not the high school formal. And we're not dancing.' On that much, Ianto wanted Jack to be very clear.

'Urgh. Spoilsport.'

'It's not exactly a place of many happy memories,' Ianto muttered.

Jack looked across at him. 'Stop. You're doing that Welsh moaning thing again.'

'I'm allowed to. I'm Welsh and moaning is what we do best.'

Jack grinned in spite of himself. 'Don't I know it?'

'You didn't have to come, you know.'

A warm hand reached out to settle itself on Ianto's knee. Jack knew how much that made him mellow and go weak for whatever Jack wanted. 'I know. But I wanted to. Let's go and reunite.'

Ianto sighed. 'At least I'm pretty safe in the knowledge that we won't be running into any of your old flames. They'll all be way too young for you.'

'Hey, are you calling me old?'

Ianto smirked. 'I don't have to. You just did.'



Jack frowned at the large fold out table greeting them at the entrance to the assembly hall slash school gym. 'What, no "Hi, my name is" stickers?'

'You had to register in advance,' Ianto replied, carefully picking out their two name badges amongst a cluster of alphabetised names he recognised and others he didn't, most carrying the surname of whoever he did recognise, along with a smattering of double-barrelled combinations. Not everyone it seemed had opted to register a plus one, but surprisingly large a number had indeed registered. Whether they chickened out at the last minute was a different matter. He'd had second thoughts himself, but Jack had persisted with that dogged determination he applied to most things in life

'Hey, how come mine is grey?' Jack observed, frowning at the tag as Ianto handed it to him. 'Doesn't go with my clothes.'

'Blue for the class of '99 graduates.' He paused and cleared his throat, 'though I use the term graduate loosely, and grey for the hangers-on.'

Jack made a disappointed sound in the back of his throat, clipping the name tag to his dark navy vest. Ianto pointed out that it matched just fine with his silver pocket watch chain and airplane cufflinks but that didn't seem to appease Jack one bit. He hated feeling less than important. At least Ianto had convinced him to leave the coat in the car. Jack stood out enough without making it obvious. Even round here there was a chance someone would recognise Jack's silhouette from having seen it around the city at a distance, running toward danger. At least in his dark shirt and dark grey slacks he looked like he'd just stopped by on his way from work, a totally ordinary looking bloke. Or at least as ordinary looking as Jack got. Ianto opted for his traditional red and black combination, feeling more at home in his Torchwood garb than normal civilian clothes. Dressed as he was, he at least felt ready to face almost anything, high school reunions included.

Ianto avoided the main assembly hall for a moment, turning left to wander slowly down the hall that lead to what had once been his tenth form English classroom. Now that he was here, he was mildly curious whether the old facade was hiding a more modern teaching environment within. He was quickly disappointed.

'Hasn't changed much over the years,' Ianto mused. 'Bit of carpet to replace the scuffed linoleum, a lick of paint. Thin partition walls are just the same. Doesn't even look like they've replaced the putty in the windows.' He half expected some ancient school project to still be pinned to the cork board tiles on the back wall.

'Carved your name into the woodwork, did you?' Jack asked.

'Maybe not my name,' Ianto confessed. 'And it was on the underside where no one would see it.'

Jack's eyes glinted with amusement. 'You rebel, you.'

'Ancient history, now. You had school, didn't you, Jack?'

He slipped his hands into his pockets as he leant against the wall, crossing one leg over the other. 'Of course we had school. I'm not completely uneducated. We just didn't have school like this. No backpacks and lockers and canteens full of nondescript food served on trays and cheerleaders…'

Ianto suppressed a grin at the idea of a teenage Jack drooling over cute girls in tiny skirts. 'We never had cheerleaders. Detention?'

Jack grinned. 'Oh, yeah, we had that. Every school has punishment.'

'I'll bet you were there every other day.'

Jack looked remarkably surprised at the accusation. 'No way. Sure, I mean the odd occasion, but I was actually a reasonable student. School was just... boring. Thirty two kids ranging from age four to sixteen in one classroom. Half the time you're helping teach the younger ones. One of the downsides to living in such a small, remote community. But still, it was great. Gray and I did everything together, even school.' Jack smiled. 'I taught him his thirteen times tables two years before the other kids his age could wrap their heads around nines.' Jack's expression clouded over at the memory.

Ianto touched his elbow. 'I wish I'd had an older brother like you. Might have made my school years more productive.'

'You had your sister. Still do.'

'Yeah, and she's as bossy now as she was then,' Ianto replied, walking them slowly back down the hall and toward the assembly hall. 'Watching the class of '96 graduates was the best day of my life because it meant no more bloody nagging sister at school, being uncool and ruining everything. Ready?'

Jack took him by the hand and squeezed it. 'Ready for anything.'



The hall was dimly lit, like a bad high school dance. Perhaps it simply hid the worst of the wear and tear on the old building, or perhaps the crows feet starting to gather at the edges of its former students' eyes.

'Speaking of class, look at this,' Jack said, corralling Ianto over to the wall where a series of photos covered it from corner to corner. 1994 to 1999 class photographs. All six horrendous years of Ianto's teenage life right there in glorious matte colour finish, along with a handful or other photos taken of the same class of people from various school trips and camps, sporting events and social functions.

'God, they're even worse than I remember. Look at that hair.'

Jack chuckled. 'Look at those hemlines! You may not have had cheerleaders but that's an awful lot of leg in a town that spends half the year in single digit temperatures. Those lucky boys.'

Jack peered more closely at the picture showing rows of students, ten by three, searching for one face in particular. Ianto found himself immediately, but Jack was having more trouble.

'Who's that scrawny kid?' Jack asked, pointing at one student in particular.

Ianto wasn't sure if Jack was having him in or if he genuinely didn't recognise him. 'Me.'

'Shut the front door. That's you?' He pointed disbelievingly back at the photo.

'I'm surprised you haven't already seen it. I thought you'd have gone through my entire back catalogue by now.'

Jack seemed disappointed not to have been able to pick out his husband from a selection of two dozen pubescent males. 'Well, I might have except every time your sister volunteers to break out the photo albums you make an excuse as to why we have to hightail it out of there.'

'For good reason. Like I need you seeing pictures of me naked in the bathtub.'

Jack smirked. 'I get to see that in real, kfe. Who needs photos?'

'Quite.'

Jack squinted at the photo again. 'That's really you? God, you're so… well, young.'

'Yup. All arms and legs and pimples, but the fastest winger on the school football team.' He pointed to another shot on the wall that was just the local squad dressed in their striped mint and black shirts and equally lurid mint socks. He looked skinny even there. A far cry from the next photo across showing off the school's far more infamous rugby team.

'Wow. Look at you now, though.' Jack gave him a pleased up and down look.

Ianto sighed dramatically. 'I know. Where did it all go wrong?'

'Well, explains why you love football, I guess.'

'Not that we hardly ever get to a game,' Ianto reminded him. One game a year hardly counted as being an avid follower, and it was usually interrupted by work.

Jack spent ten more minutes studying the pictures whilst Ianto gave them a mere cursory glance. Jack found them fascinating in the same way Ianto found the old photos from the archives fascinating. It was easier to romanticise something you imagined in your head than being the one remembering how it really happened.

'So, should we go mingle?' Jack finally asked. 'See how many people you can impress with your glittering career of bravery and derring do?'

'For the record I do not have enough retcon for all of them so let's keep the alien stuff to a minimum. Or better yet, let's not mention it at all.'

'Let's just see where the night leads us.'

Ianto hated it when Jack refused to make a promise.



They wandered slowly around the room, not engaging anyone until Ianto had them both with a drink in hand - water for Jack, a bottle of beer for himself - and for Jack, a handful of sausage rolls in the other hand. Jack was always safest with his mouth full and not hard to distract with food.

Ianto spotted a few faces he recognised, even after twenty years had done their best to age them. Others he didn't recognise at all, and some he saw he'd have much rather forgotten, planning on giving those as wide a berth as possible.

'So, when are we getting to the reunion part?' Jack asked through half a mouthful, a tiny flake of pastry escaping and fluttering to the floor.

Ianto chewed his lip. He had agreed to come here and what was the worst that could happen, anyway? He scanned the room, looking for the right person to break the ice with. There were too many to choose from. People he'd never really been friends with, others whose stories were something he didn't really fancy regaling in front of Jack, people he'd had crushes on and others who'd learned the hard way that he came from the same estate stock as them.

In the end the decision was made for him and someone clipped his shoulder from behind as they busted past.

'Oh, sorry, bute,' the man said, then paused. 'Ianto?'

Ianto turned to see the stocky man with short sandy hair and a speedily receding hairline. 'Davy?'

Davy smiled. 'Didn't reckon I'd see you here.'

'Didn't think I'd see me here, either,' Ianto replied.

'Bloody great that you are, though, mind. And you've brought a plus one?'

'Oh,' Ianto said, almost having forgotten his shadow. 'Yes, this is Jack, he's my-'

'Ianto, bute. Listen I'd love to stop and chat but they've wrangled me into helping keep things running here tonight. Can we catch up later, eh?'

'Sure. No problem.'

'See you a bit later. Promise.'

Jack raised two eyebrows at him over his glass of water. 'Who was that?'

'Davy Roberts. Kind of a friend.'

There was a curious eyebrow raised at him. 'Kind of?'

'Bit of a falling out over some friends who didn't want him in the gang.' That was putting it mildly.

Jack sensed that he was holding back the full story. 'Right. And when you say gang?'

'Yes, Jack. I mean the kind that go around and graffiti rail bridges and hassle convenience store owners. The kind that get you brought up on shoplifting charges.'

Jack scowled. 'Nice people.'

'You didn't grow up on the estate. You don't know what it was like. It was be one of the gang or be ganged up on. It wasn't much of a choice.' Even now it still didn't feel like much of a choice.

'Ianto, you forget, I have a colourful past. I know how the world works.'

'Yeah, well then you'll know that being in the gang is like paying protection money. No one messes up your house or steals your bike or hits on your sister if you're one of them. It's just what you do to survive.'

'But not Davy.' Jack was going to wrangle the story out of Ianto if it killed him.

'He wasn't on the estate. He didn't need protection. Outside of school, anyway.'

'And inside?'

Ianto avoided answering the question. 'It's all in the past now. Everybody's moved on.' He just needed Jack to move on now.

'Who's that over there?' Jack asked, gratefully changing subject and leaning close so that Ianto could see who he was pointing to. 'He looks harmless.'

Ianto followed Jack's line to a tall man with glasses and a severely pointed nose. 'Maybe not him,' Ianto replied. Stuart Brown had been a geek of the highest order and the kind of kid that even Ianto would have picked on. He didn't really want his first proper introduction being someone whose life he and his mates had probably made miserable.

Jack continued to look around the room. 'Okay, what about her?'

Ianto sighed. Jack really knew how to pick them, going from one extreme to the other as he referred to a very classy looking brunette in white palazzo pants and an expensive silk blouse. 'That's Miranda. Prettiest girl in school. Nice house, parents with good jobs. Could've gone to the public school a few miles away but didn't.'

'Ah… the cheerleader. I bet you had a crush on her, eh?' He nudged Ianto with an elbow.

'Did I also happen to mention she was a massive cow?'

Jack shrugged it off. 'Oh. Looks like not much has changed,' he observed as he saw her look down her nose at two not quite so pretty women who were trying to engage her in conversation, and who ended up walking away, still clutching their full glasses of white wine, visibly muttering the words "cow" and "stuck up".

Ianto got another tap on the shoulder. He spun around and came face to face with a chiselled chin and salt and pepper black hair. 'Ianto Jones. I thought that was you.'

'Iain. Nice to see you,' he said, extending a hand and shaking it.

'Blimey, Ianto. You've aged well. Not like me.' He pointed up at his temples. 'Been going grey since my twenties.'

'Must have just been blessed with good genes.' He couldn't very well tell everybody that he'd gone travelling abroad with his husband in a madman's time machine and ended up immortal at the tender age of thirty. Still, he liked to think that he had a mature face despite that one limitation. Thirty five might have been a more distinguished age to pause at but he hadn't really any say in the matter. Still, at least it was before his knees started to click and creak when he got out of bed, and his metabolism was pretty good so long as he kept up with the odd morning jog and not too many donuts. Even at twery five he couldn't have competed with Jack's ability to put away a half dozen cream buns and still have room left over. Jack had scarcely put on a pound the entire time he'd known him, the bastard. Then again, those abs were worth being jealous of.

'This is Jack,' Ianto said, before he forgot to introduce him a second time. 'He's my partner. Jack used the word "husband" at the same time so Ianto backtracked.

'Husband,' he said, as Jack said the word "partner" over the top of him.

Jack's hand stayed him as he went to try and tidy the mess he'd just made. 'We're both,' Jack explained. 'Partners at work, partners in life.'

'Ah, that's nice. How long?'

'Ten years.'

'Thirteen.'

'Depends when you start counting,' Ianto said, finding it had to keep the blush from creeping into his cheeks. He wasn't accustomed to showing Jack off, or having to figure out when they'd become official. Mostly they tried to stay unnoticed. That was the nature of the job.

'So,' Iain said, taking a pull from his beer bottle, 'what are you doing with yourself these days?'

'Oh, just a public servant. Nothing special.'

Jack pulled him close to his side. 'He's just being bashful. Special ops intelligence division. We work together, though technically I suppose I'm still his boss as well. Different story at home, though. Ianto definitely wears the pants, and the apron, if you know what I mean.' He gave Iain a wink.

'Oh, you do your share of apron wearing, honey,' Ianto said, trying to force a nonchalant smile into his face and patting Jack's arm, wishing Jack had quit while he was ahead.

Iain didn't seem perturbed by their marital banter. 'Special ops, eh? Are you spies, then?'

Jack grinned. 'If we told you we'd have to kill you.'

'We'd prefer not to kill anyone this evening,' Ianto added, wishing Jack didn't have such a very big mouth. 'All the paperwork…'

Iain chuckled and threw his hands up. 'Say no more. Didn't realise we had special ops in Cardiff. You do still live local, right? Haven't driven four hours from London or anything, have you?'

'Oh, yes. Still local. You just never know where the seedy underside of crime might hide out.'

'Only I heard you'd moved to London after graduation. Wondered if you were still there.'

Ianto didn't feel like rehashing all the reasons he'd left Cardiff in the first place. Mostly they had nothing at all to do with further education and job prospects. He'd just wanted out from underneath his family, especially after his Dad had died. 'I did. Worked my way up and then decided that the hustle and bustle wasn't to my liking. So, I came home. Still working for the same organisation as in London, mind. Just a move back west, that's all. Haven't regretted a day of it.'

'And what about you, Jack? American living in sleepy little Cardiff?'

Jack tried on his usual charm. 'You make me sound like something out of a movie.'

'Why here?'

'What, you mean apart from the endless days of near perfect weather?' They all gave the awkward chuckle that accompanied any comment about the weather. He laughed at himself. 'The job. The job always comes first, whatever they need, wherever they need it. Just so long as I can take this one with me these days, mind you.'

'Aw, don't you two make just the sweetest couple!' said a petite blond who approached their trio with a very hefty stomach poking out from under her flowery dress.

'Mary Stevenson.'

'Mary Pritchard, now.' She smiled and clutched Iain's arm. 'Yes, I know. High school sweethearts. Such a cliche. But hey, you can't stand in the way of true love, can you?'

'No, you most certainly can't,' Jack replied, hugging Ianto against him. 'You're pretty far along,' Jack commented, noting Mary's bulging belly.

She rested a hand self-consciously on it. 'Number five,' she replied.

'Five?' Ianto had had to force the mouthful of beer down in a huge gulp rather than risk spitting it all over them. 'Well, that's… a handful.'

Mary beamed. 'I know. This one wasn't planned but well, now that we're almost there we're thinking of maybe trying for one more. You know, before the body clock runs out.'

Iain beamed at his wife. 'Everyone keeps telling us we're going for the whole rugby team.'

'And this one is definitely a fly half if the kicking is anything to go by,' Mary added.

'Well, congratulations and hope it all goes smoothly.'

Jack and Ianto kept smiling even as the couple wandered off arm in arm. 'You have no idea what a fly half is, do you?' Ianto asked.

'Not a clue,' Jack said through smiling teeth. 'She's definitely not Mary of the immaculate conception type. More like Mary of the "I'll take it any way I can get it" type. Lucky man.'

Ianto smirked. 'Nice to think that someone else is still going at it more often than we do, though, eh?'

'Not for a lack of trying,' Jack responded. 'Lucky you can't get knocked up or we'd have a rugby team all our own.'

Ianto hummed in agreement, tipping back the last of his beer. The first hadn't hit the sides and he was definitely going to need another.



As he was wending his way back to the bar table, Ianto caught sight of another blast from his past, and try as he might, there seemed to be no way of avoiding an interlude without giving up on his drink and also making it very obvious that he was doing a one-eighty at which time he was going to barrel straight back into Jack in the process. Just when things had been going okay. Christ.

'Gareth! Hi,' Ianto said, putting on his best fake smile. Please don't hurt me, his mind was screaming at him. It wasn't until he felt Jack's reassuring presence just behind him that he felt secure in the knowledge that he was unlikely to be on the receiving end of anything bad. People simply didn't mess with Jack. He had one of those faces. Mostly they didn't mess with Ianto these days either, but he was usually pointing a gun at them by that stage. Tonight he was armed only with a bundle of lies and the wherewithal to make them sound convincing.

'Ianto Jones. I was hoping to run into you tonight.'

Run over me in the car park, more like, Ianto thought. 'Right. Why's that?' He dreaded to know the answer.

'Curious how everyone turned out, I suppose. Kind of my job these days. Hard to break the habit. I'm a psychologist.'

'A psychologist? You?'

Gareth blushed. 'I know. Who'd have thought? Got my act together, studied hard and here we are. What about you?'

'Public service.' Jack nudged up beside him, slipping a warm hand into his by Ianto's side. 'We met at work.'

'Oh? Never pegged you as the type to go bender, Ianto. Always girlfriends as I remember it.'

'Never pegged you as the type to grow out of being a massive twat.'

'Ianto!' Jack chided. 'What's gotten into you?' he hissed. 'I'm really sorry, he's not usually like this.'

'No, it's alright, mate,' Gareth said, putting a placating hand on his arm where Jack had a vice-like grip on Ianto's own arm. 'I was a complete and utter twat of the highest order. You can't blame someone for being bang on the money. But, you know, people change. Figured I might come here tonight and mend a few bridges. People can be cruel to one another but kids are far better at it than us adults. I gave you hell back in school and I'm sorry.'

Ianto shrugged. 'You were the rival gang. Only natural, I suppose.'

'Yeah, but I reckon I picked on you the most because even then you didn't really look like you were one of the gang.'

'They…' Ianto was about to defend them before remembering they were the same people who'd run a mile when he'd been busted shoplifting with them. Maybe in their shoes he'd have done the same thing, but the appearance in court hadn't done anything to raise his standing within the group so it was all a bit pointless in the end. Real mates would have left you as cannon fodder, or would have copped it on the chin with you. 'I'm much better at choosing my friends these days.'

'Well, look, I'm still only around the corner in Riverside. Got a small two-man practice down there. If you ever want to grab a coffee or a pint, give me a call? Nice to have some intelligent conversation and someone who isn't about to collapse in a heap, if you know what I mean.' He fished a business card out of his breast pocket and handed it across.

'Yeah. No worries,' Ianto said, slipping the card away in his wallet.

Jack grinned. 'A coffee date already.'

'Shut up. He'd probably just psychoanalyse me.'

'You could probably do with it,' Jack teased, a little too seriously for Ianto's liking.

'I'm perfectly well adjusted, thank you very much. At least considering this job. It's everyone else who needs their heads checked.'



Ianto took a break after his second beer was finished. It was probably best not to have a third at this point in the evening, swapping it instead for a cola which was a tad on the flat side, and served out of a larger bottle into a large plastic beer cup. He thought he'd be pushing his luck to ask for ice.

Things had gone reasonably well so far. Everyone Ianto had spoken to had been rather nice; certainly nicer than when they'd been in school. Maybe Gareth was right. People grew up, grew out of being selfish and nasty. Maybe everyone hated high school. It was funny to see where people had ended up in their lives, putting his own into sharp relief as he realised that he really did lead the most unusual life of everyone, even if he couldn't tell anyone. And Jack was remarkably well-behaved, charming even, without being too charming. A little distracted at times, but that wasn't unusual. Maybe all these years of married life had finally mellowed him, though Ianto didn't think so. Tomorrow Jack would no doubt be back to being Jack - loud, outrageous, funny and impossible.

'Another water for you, or are you going to live a little?' Ianto asked.

'Hmm?' Jack was staring at his phone again, flicking through it and frowning.

Ianto waiting for the other shoe to drop. 'Anything important?'

Jack shook his head. 'Nothing that can't wait a few days. Tonight it's all about you. You and all that juicy high school gossip. All those sordid tales of misspent youth.' Jack's eye caught on something, or someone. 'Oh, speaking of misspent youth, I'm hoping she was part of it.' The smile on Jack's face was a guarantee of trouble.

Ianto turned and saw who Jack was referring to. 'Ask and you shall receive,' Ianto muttered mostly to himself. 'Sophie Maguire.' Probably the longest relationship he'd had before meeting Lisa.

He hated Jack meeting his exes. It wasn't like it was a big issue. He didn't have the back catalogue of spurned lovers that Jack had, though he had spurned a few himself. It just felt awkward and wrong, like all the mistakes of his life were coming home to roost on his doorstep in front of Jack who might think less of him because of it.

'Should I leave you two to reminisce?'

'No, you don't have to do that.' It was all he could do not to beg Jack to stay and temper the exchange.

'Actually, I think I might go see if they've got any more of those little quiche things. Enjoy.' Jack leaned close for a second so he could whisper in Ianto's ear. 'I wanna hear all about it later.'

'Gee, thanks,' Ianto murmured as Jack abandoned him to face his fate.

The short brunette leaned closer to inspect his name tag. 'Yes, I thought it was you. Hello.' She leaned across and pecked him on the cheek, giving him a subtle waft of something floral with oriental undertones. It was nice.

'Hi.' She was still attractive in that understated way, though perhaps more so now that her hair was the right colour, not dyed black, along with her lipstick which was now a more mature shade of rose instead of purple, and missing the half dozen facial piercings that had always made kissing a real adventure. He still missed rolling his tongue around her barbell just a little bit. She'd almost convinced him to get a tongue piercing himself. Almost.

'You look good,' he said. She really did. Enough to make him feel slightly awkward, like they were out on that first date again.

'And you. Nice suit.'

Ianto tried to downplay his choice of wardrobe. Perhaps there had been one or two people he might have dressed up for. 'Came straight from work.'

'Yes, the nine to five grind. How things have changed, eh? Not like the old days, messing around, rationing packets of smokes, that bottle of vodka we sneaked into the cinema one night…' Her eyes glazed over, reminiscing.

'You were mulletted after the movie,' he reminded her. So was he. 'Threw up in someone's bin on the way home.' He'd held her hair and kept an arm around her the whole way home, even if it meant she went stumbling along with him.

'I'd forgotten about that part.'

'I don't think you remembered it the first time.' He chuckled. 'It was fun, though. All of it. I never figured out how it was that Mum approved of you.'

Sophie shrugged her shoulders. 'Guess I was just naturally charming.'

'You were. Ah, sorry, did I just say that out loud? God.' Why did he always mess these things up?

'You were cute and sweet. Still are by the looks of things. I was watching you earlier, together with your… partner?'

Ianto held up his hand, exhibiting the silver ring. 'Married, actually.'

She held up hers. 'Me too. We're very happy together. You look like you're happy, too.'

'Yeah. Still falling for the charming ones, though. That hasn't changed.'

Sophie tilted her head. 'Did your Mum approve of that one, too?'

The question hit Ianto harder than expected. 'Actually, she passed away a few years ago. Cancer. Never met Jack.'

'Oh, Ianto, I'm sorry. She was such a lovely lady. Your poor parents, both of them.'

'It's fine. We're fine. Everyone has to go sometime, right?' Everyone except him and Jack, that was. They got to watch everybody die. 'She didn't suffer long,' he added. That was one small concession. 'A bit of chemo, doing better, and then it all happened rather quickly.' At least this time he'd been there at the end.

'If you'd told me I would have been there. At least to say goodbye.'

'That's okay.'

She sipped from the straw of her cup of soda, before frowning at something over his shoulder. 'Your husband seems to be watching us.'

Ianto resisted the urge to turn around and see for himself. 'Don't mind him. He's the jealous type, though he'd never admit it. He's also a complete coward when it comes to exes.'

'Well, I know you and he's got nothing to worry about.'

Ianto snorted. 'Try telling him that.' They both laughed and it was like being back in the kitchen of his old house with them swapping opinions on music bands and films and scoffing tea and Welsh cakes that his mum had made for them when they got home after school. Not all of it had been bad after all. There were a few good bits. Even some great bits. Looking back,he didn't regret any of it.

'Well, if he feels brave enough, maybe I can get an introduction later? It's nice to see you happy. It'd be even nicer to meet the person who made you that way. You weren't my first, but you were definitely one of the good ones.'

'You, too.' She gave his hand a little squeeze as she melded back into the crowd.

Jack reappeared moments later. Impeccable timing as always, Ianto thought.

'Did you eat the entire buffet table?' Ianto asked when Jack sidled up next to him.

'Had to use the little boy's room.'

'Right.'

Jack's brow furrowed at his tone. 'What?'

'Twenty minutes?'

'There was a queue.'

'It's the men's. There's never a queue.' Not unless they were all gathered in there checking the old graffiti on the back of the doors and the walls of the stalls, pulling out their pens to make alternations to such statements as "I heart Noni's tits… but they're a bit saggy now," or "Gav and Mel 4 eva… divorced two years later, and both on their third marriage," and "Karen sucks cock… but only if you drive a Mercedes."

'Hey, one was busted and a second one… Well, let's just say under normal circumstances I'd be sending in a hazmat team. Man, and I thought weevils were bad at stinking out the place.'

'You're not the one that has to clean out their cells.'

Jack smirked. 'That would be the perks of being the boss. And I was mingling.'

'With a bunch of strangers?'

'Hey, everyone's a stranger until you get to know them.'

Ianto sighed. 'Just remember the only person you're taking home tonight is me.'

Jack gave a small two-fingered salute. 'Duly noted.' Jack groaned as a spotlight drew their attention towards the stage and the volume of the mildly annoying nineties music was turned down to nothing. 'Urgh, looks like it's boring speech time.'

Davy walked up onto the stage at the end of the hall and tapped the microphone loudly with all the awkwardness of a Saturday afternoon bingo caller at the local bowls club. 'Sorry for the delay, folks,' he apologised, gripping the mike and looking a little disheveled and flustered.

'Oi, nice one mate. Thought we were going to have to wait for the next ten year reunion for you to show up!' There was a ripple of laughter through the hall.

'Tough crowd,' Jack muttered.

Ianto nodded.

'So, thank you all for coming tonight. The old President's council have worked very hard to put this together. Thank you to Marjorie, Nathan, Parminder, and Steve. Just a pity our class president Richard couldn't be here, but he sends his regards from Ward 18.'

'Appendicitis?' Jack asked.

'Providence Park,' Ianto replied. 'Complete mental breakdown is what I heard. Shame. Thought he'd go places. Proof that being smart and taking drugs is not a good combination.'

'Depends on the drugs. Clearly not so smart.'

'Hope you've had a chance to catch up over a few beers,' Davy continued.

'Nothing stronger, mate! Talk about cheap! Where's the real grog?' There were a few hollers of agreement and a few boos added in for good measure.

'Corpus Christi is down the road if you're after posh, but they're rugby team was rubbish,' Davy tried to heckle back, but the joke fell flat.

Ianto noticed Jack looking at his phone again. He could hardly blame him. 'I'm just gonna duck out and make a call,' Jack whispered, disappearing before Ianto had a chance to ask him who or why.

'Er, anyway,' Davy continued. 'Thought we'd just pause for a few quick speeches from some old classmates on growing up, growing old and what they wish they could tell their teenage selves if they had the chance.'

Thank God no one had worded him up to make a contribution, Ianto thought. He dreaded to think of how he might have counselled his younger self. Don't be a complete arsehole about your dad being sick, for a start. He did the best bloody job he could and you repaid him by not being there. All he wanted was for you to be there when he went, knowing that he loved you. Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. No people pleaser was ever nominated as the happiest person on earth. Everyone will use you to get what they want if you let them walk all over you. Don't waste time in toxic relationships and hanging out with people who don't give a toss about you. One or two great friends are better than a cast of a thousand worthless ones. Be yourself. Do what makes you happy. Love whoever makes you feel like you're on cloud nine, fight like hell to hold onto them, and don't give a damn what everyone else thinks about them. Live every single day in case there's no tomorrow, because one day there won't be a tomorrow. Unless you get bloody lucky and meet a man who will change your entire world forever, and even then, keep living every bloody day to make up for all the ones everybody else won't get.

Maybe that was a bit wordy and too morally superior. Eighteen year old Ianto would probably call him a tosser and to bugger off. His mates were mostly twats but they were still his mates and the only refuge he got from the awful realisation that he was going to be forced to grow up even sooner than he planned. He wasn't ready for losing a parent, or for being the man of the house. And so he'd run a million miles, or maybe just a few hundred, to London, hoping that if he kept running enough, that reality would never catch up with him. All he could think was "you idiot".

'Cheers, Bec. Brilliant advice,' Davy said, snapping Ianto back to the present. He hadn't heard a word of Bec's wise words except to guess maybe they should have been "Don't spread your legs for every boy in school. STIs are a bitch."

There was another awkward smattering of claps.

Ianto looked around but Jack still hadn't come back. What was going on? He quickly checked the hub's monitoring software from his phone but there was nothing. Just another blissfully quiet night in Cardiff. No rift activity at all. Not so much as a blip to warrant further analysis.

'Enjoy the night and will be back at ten for the lucky prize draw. Don't miss it! It's really going to let the night end with a bang!'

There was a final half-hearted cheer and some clapping but it seemed more like the kind that was relieved Davy was exiting the stage.

'Poor bugger,' Ianto muttered. He drifted away to try and intercept Davy as he made a hasty retreat. 'Davy,' he called out, elbowing his way through disinterested small talk.

'Oh, mate. Sorry, but I've got to dash.'

'Look, I know it was a bit brutal up there, but just ignore them, yeah? Tonight's been great. Really.'

'Appreciate it, but I've really got to go. Nights like these don't run themselves, you know. I still owe you that beer later. Don't rush out. Keep one cold for me.' He escaped quickly through a side door and out down the corridor.

Jack caught up with Ianto who was left standing there on his own.' What was that?'

Ianto sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.' The reason why so many people hate these things. Regression back to childhood behaviour and old grudges.'

'You gonna go after him?'

He sighed. 'No. I think he'd rather just get on with things.' He waited a second or two for Jack to say something and when he offered up nothing, Ianto took matters into his own hands. 'What's going on, Jack? You've been distracted all evening, checking your phone, disappearing for whole chunks of time, making phone calls that didn't happen.'

Jack looked decidedly unhappy. 'You were checking up on me?'

'You said it was work, only I checked the phone logs and there were no calls made through our secure lines so I know you didn't just fancy calling up the Queen and discussing last night's episode of Bake-off. Either you were talking to someone I shouldn't know about or…'

'Or?' Jack's challenge hung in the air.

'Or you weren't on your phone at all. Oh, God,' Ianto groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Tell me you didn't come here with me tonight looking for aliens!'

'I didn't.' Ianto fixed him with a stern look, which completely crushed Jack's lying face. 'Okay, so maybe I did.'

'Jesus, Jack! Aliens? Really?'

'What? The thought hadn't even crossed my mind until I went poking around your old high school photographs a few days ago and I realised that this school was once upon a time an investigation that I was never able to close. Class of '99. Molly Richards.'

'Oh, don't be ridiculous. Their family moved away right before graduation. Nothing untoward about it.' Jack arched an eyebrow at him. 'Oh. Tell me you didn't.'

'Covered it up, retconned the family and moved them to Bristol minus one teenage daughter on the cusp of graduation. Molly was brutally murdered by something alien. The autopsy results don't lie. Or the mess.'

'But…' Ianto was struggling to wrap his head around this new revelation. 'If there was something in the school, how come she was the only one? How come I never heard about it?'

'We're Torchwood. Covering up, it's what we do,' Jack reminded him. He cast a glance over his shoulder, double checking they weren't being overheard. 'As for the first question, I dunno. Maybe she stumbled on something she shouldn't have. Maybe she could identify who it was. A secret like that could be worth killing for.'

'Are you seriously saying… He looked around the room full of people. Someone here?'

'Why not?'

'Okay, for starters, if you're an alien not wanting to be found out, why come here?'

'It's looking for something, maybe. Needed access to the school. I don't know.'

Ianto couldn't believe he was entertaining this. 'Oh, come on, you're being ridiculous.'

'Am I? Look, I did my homework before coming here tonight. Checked out everybody who registered. They all came back clean. Nothing in any of their files that threw up a red flag.'

'You mean you've just been making pretend smalltalk with all of them when you actually already knew their entire life story?'

'Of course. But it's more fun watching you squirm in front of them.' He grinned naughtily. 'Gotta get my kicks somewhere.'

Ianto's eyes narrowed at his husband. 'I'll remember that next time you want a favour.' Then he turned on work mode without even realising it had happened. 'So, really, nothing on any of them? Doesn't that just prove there's nothing in this? I mean, I know some of them are weird, but I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed if any of them were secretly an alien.'

'Would you?'

Ianto's jaw clenched. 'It's my job. And you could have told me. I thought we were past all the secrets and lies. I thought,' he paused again to emphasise the word, 'you were just trying to be supportive.'

'I am. But this has been a cold case for twenty years and I mean to close it tonight.'

Ianto folded his arms petulantly. 'Fine. I can't believe you lied to me. Again,' he said, with particular emphasis on the word. 'You weren't mingling, you were interrogating.'

'Not interrogating… just… scanning for alien tech. I was being discreet.'

'Oh, because that's loads better!' Ianto hissed. 'These are my classmates. I could've told you which were the dodgy ones if you'd just asked.'

'It's not the dodgy ones I'm worried about. It's the ones that can spend twenty years living under the radar and have no qualms about murder.'

Ianto huffed a sigh. 'Great. Well, I think we can discount Iain and Mary, Gareth, Sophie, Carl the scrap metal worker, Sharri and Shona the hippie lesbian couple from Newport, Suranda who runs the bollywood DVD rental place on Bute Street, Max the butcher…'

'Strange,' Jack said, cutting him off. 'You didn't mention Davy.'

'Well, of course it isn't him. Obviously. Not Davy. It can't be. He was about the only normal bloke in school.'

'It's always the quiet ones you have to worry about.'

'I'm quiet,' Ianto reminded him.

'Yeah, and I worry about you all the time.'

Ianto felt his jaw clench. 'I'm trying very hard not to be insulted by that. Anyway, just put him on the list of people we can exclude. Still leaves us with about five hundred unknowns.'

'Fine. Come on.'

'What, and leave all this?' Ianto asked, casting a hand around the room.

Jack seemed surprised. 'You wanna stay? And mingle?'

'Course not,' he said, grabbing Jack by the arm and dragging him towards the door. 'Thought you'd never bloody ask.'



Ianto took Jack by the hand, leading him out of the assembly hall, down several corridors and into an empty classroom where they could talk openly. Unconsciously he realised it was his tenth grade history room, a place where he'd always felt somewhat competent and at ease. It served a similar purpose now. Even after all these years he still found it hard when his work life and personal life came colliding together. 'So, what did you find?'

Jack leaned back against a bank of cheap looking computers. 'Nothing. That's just it. Everyone I checked came back clean. No alien tech whatsoever. Nothing more advanced than a smart watch.'

'Not unless Mary is gestating an alien egg and not their fifth child,' Ianto joked.

'Believe me, the thought did cross my mind.' He caught Ianto's look and backtracked. 'Fleetingly,' he added, annoyed by the accusatory look Ianto was giving him. 'Never discount anything, you know that.'

'Don't I just? Maybe it wasn't a student who killed her. Could've been a teacher, or someone not even connected to the school. Canteen lady? She was always a bit suspect. Kept thinking I was going to find dog hair in my chips. Or worse.'

Jack shook his head. 'No. We probed all the teachers. They came back clean at the time. It's what made me think maybe it was one of the students.'

'But you didn't probe them?'

'A thousand kids? Is that even ethical? And those machines don't work properly on kids anyway. Too many lies and secrets to sift through. Needle in a haystack stuff. Besides, the murder was a one off. Most aliens who are that way inclined don't tend to stop at one. We kept an eye on the place for weeks and nothing. Alex called off the investigation and that was the end of it. Tragic, but nothing more we could do.'

'Until now.'

'One last poke around. What's the harm? And there's something else I just realised.'

'What?'

'It's not a twenty year reunion.'

'Well, of course it is. Class of '99 and it's…' Ianto did the maths. 'Oh. It's 2020.'

'Yeah. It's not twenty years; it's twenty one. It's a year late.'

'Well, we never claimed to excel in mathematics. Maybe they just didn't get around to organising it in time. President's council always was a bit rubbish.'

'Or maybe there was another reason to delay it.'

Ianto considered the possible implications. 'Bloody hell. What if you're right? There must be about seven hundred people here tonight.'

'That's seven hundred people who are in danger and don't even know it.'

'Yeah, but in danger from what? Can't exactly murder them one by one all night. Assuming that it's using the same M.O.'

Jack shook his head again, troubled by the inconsistency. 'You wait all this time. Why? What's significant about the timing? A year late…'

'Waiting for something to be ready?'

'This time, this place, Jack murmured, wandering slowly around the classroom, using the time to think.' Killing Molly… She must have seen something, or suspected. All that blood everywhere. She wasn't just murdered, she was ripped to pieces, right there in the hallway. No attempt to hide the bod-' Jack stopped mid sentence. 'That's it. Ianto, Where's the one place in a school where you could hide something for twenty years and know nobody would find it?'

It took Ianto only a second for the awful realisation to hit. Molly Richards with her thick glasses and few friends, always trying, never quite making it, all dragons and science fiction and head in the clouds, and… her obsession with books. 'The library.'

'Whatever it is, it's there, and someone tonight is coming to collect.'

Ianto took the lead as they navigated their way across the school grounds, lit by only the odd security light here and there.

'It's in C Block,' Ianto told Jack as they skirted around one tired brick building, hanging a left with and moving towards a small alcove where it met another building in an L-shaped Junction.

Jack reached for the heavy door handle, jiggling it and finding it unlocked. 'No breaking in required?'

'Staff room and supplies are in the same block. Probably got left unlocked so they can move things around for the function. Someone would have the keys.'

'Spoils all the fun though, doesn't it?'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'Yes, because I just love breaking in. Now, come on.'



'Where's the lights?' Jack hissed in Ianto's ear, bumping into the back of him as he stopped suddenly.

'Shh! I can hear someone.' He strained his ears to try and pick out the direction of the sound. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small torch.

'You carried a torch to a school reunion?'

'It was in my pocket from work.' He was about to click it on when Jack grabbed his hand and stopped him.

'Wait.'

Ianto caught the familiar metal glint as Jack's webley appeared in his hand. 'You carry a gun to a school reunion? I don't even want to know where you were keeping that hidden.'

'It was in my pocket from work,' Jack taunted back. 'Unlike you, I came here expecting trouble.'

Ianto huffed. 'Convince your husband to leave his military greatcoat back in the car and instead he brings his 1914 British army standard issue firearm instead. Ready now?'

Jack raised it two-handed. 'Ready.'

Ianto raised the torch and switched it on, swinging the beam around slowly so that Jack's gun could follow at the same angle. Nothing in the hallway. He stepped tentatively forward towards the large sliding double doors of the library, feeling Jack just a step behind him, ready to shoot past his body at anything deadly. He paused a moment before swinging around the doorway and inside, torchlight hitting the source of the noise he'd heard.

A large meaty hand went up as it squinted at the sudden light. The other hand was wrapped tightly around a thin blonde woman in a very short skirt, who two seconds ago had her tongue down his throat. 'Oi, bit of privacy, lads! We're having fun here. This room's taken. Find your own.'

'Get out!' Jack demanded in his Captain's tone of voice, keeping his gun raised and brooking no argument from the pair of newly acquainted lovers.

They scampered away, equal parts scared and annoyed. 'No need to be so bloody bossy,' the blonde woman said, snarling back at Jack. 'C'mon, loos are round the corner, love.'

Ianto cringed as he clocked both their faces and name tags. 'Oh, that's just wrong on so many levels.'

'What? You've never seen two people at a reunion snogging off in a corner?' 'Lucky that's all they were doing.'

'I remember them. They're cousins. Not even twice removed.' Ianto shuddered.

Jack shrugged it off. 'Goes some way to explaining the teeth. Come on. Let's keep going.'

Ianto located a bank of light switches, finding a handful that gave the library the dull, illuminated glow of filthy fluorescence.

Jack took his phone from his pocket whilst keeping his gun in hand. He scrolled through a series of programs on screen, waving the device around, even as Ianto pulled out his own, logging into Torchwood's systems and bringing up his own series of diagnostic tools. 'It's definitely here,' Jack confirmed.

'Where?'

Jack growled under his breath. 'Don't know. Can't get a fix on it. Too much interference.'

'Interference?'

'Magnetic tags in all the book spines. It's throwing off the readings.'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'Not much chance of anyone stealing anything in here. Unless they were using the paper for rolling joints. Let's start over there,' Ianto said, pointing.

Jack frowned at the plain looking section of shelves in the far corner, tucked away behind a row of private study cubicles. 'Why there?'

'Reference section. Lots of thick books no one ever looks at. Plus, it was the most secluded corner of the whole library for a cheeky snog.'

'I'm learning so much I didn't know about you tonight.'

Ianto brushed past him. 'Only because you assumed my life was completely boring.'

'So… did you?'

'Yes!' he snapped, desperate for the subject to be over.

'Sophie?'

'Oh, you did do your homework, didn't you? No wonder you ran a bloody mile when she came across.'

Jack gave him a cheeky grin. 'Gotta admit, I like your type. The total Goth thing looks good next to you. Black painted fingernails? Permanent marker, I'm guessing. Maybe we could try a little Gothic S and M at home some time? I do love those studded leather belts. So many possibilities…'

'It was a phase,' Ianto said through gritted teeth. 'I was never really into it.' The things he'd done to impress a girl. Ianto wouldn't confront an emo kid these days if could avoid it and he'd been one.

Jack persisted. 'But she was hot and you wanted to do a little bit more than just nibble her piercings, huh?'

'Yes, we had sex, alright? But only ever in my bedroom and never when my parents were home. God, that is so much more than I ever wanted to tell you. Or anyone for that matter.'

'Ianto Jones, I am impressed. All the way to third base.'

Ianto scowled at him as he began pulling books from the shelf in order, flipping through their pages. Jack was doing the same, only in a much more haphazard fashion, skipping over anything less than two inches thick and upending them and hanging them upside down from their spines, giving them a hard shake. Who really knew what they were looking for. It might be as small as a microchip for all they knew. Ianto found a trolley nearby and started unloading handfuls at a time to speed up the process.

Jack held a book up by its hard back cover and looked straight at Ianto for a moment, a curious expression on his face. 'So tell me. Why'd you really want to come here tonight? I didn't exactly have to do a whole lot of arm twisting. Reunions don't seem like your thing.' Jack snorted in spite of himself. 'To be honest, anything with a room full of people doesn't seem to be your thing. All that socialising and small talk.'

Ianto continued flicking pages. 'I just prefer my own company, that's all. Or yours. And, for the record, we do hang out with the team.'

'At the pub on quiz night,' Jack clarified.

'Fine.' Ianto snapped the book shut and dropped it loudly on the trolley, kicking up a small cloud of dust. 'I wanted to see how everybody turned out, okay?'

'You could've done that at the hub. Not like we don't have dossiers on half of Cardiff.'

'No, I mean,' he tried to figure out how to explain it. 'Well, it's like Gareth. Complete arse who made my life a misery, but look at him now. Nice, normal guy, good job. Iain and Mary with their five a side football team of kids. Sophie, happy…'

'Oh, I see where this is going. Ianto… you've got your job, your friends, family… You've got me… Isn't that enough?'

Ianto's eyes dropped to the floor. 'I dunno.'

'We tried the domestic thing. We both hated it, remember? All those conversations over sinks full of dirty dishes and homemade ravioli and lawn mowing on Saturdays. And as for kids…'

'We're Torchwood,' Ianto said. 'We don't do kids. God, we barely do meaningful relationships.' He saw the hurt expression on Jack's face. 'Sorry. That's not what I meant. I love us. I love you. I married you. I just…'

'Wonder what things might have been like if you could have had the white picket fence and two point four kids with someone who isn't me.'

Ianto chanced a look up at his lover. 'Is that such a crime?'

Jack returned his gaze. 'There's no such thing as a perfect life. Believe me. Everybody wants something that someone else has. But… you are happy, aren't you? I don't want you to be unhappy.'

'Of course I'm happy. Our lives are just so mad all the time. My parents were happy together. My sister and Johnny, they're happy with their lot, too. If we didn't have all this, would we be happy? Would just us be enough?'

'Ianto, don't you get it yet? You're all I need. I'd give up the rest of it in a heartbeat if I had to. That's what marriage is. A promise. Forever.'

'Forever,' Ianto repeated. 'Sometimes it's hard to remember that forever is going to be a long time for us. Not just next year or twenty years from now. Hundreds, thousands, millions maybe.' What did millions of years together even look like?

Jack reached across and squeezed his hand. 'Time enough to try it all and figure out what makes us happiest,' Jack promised him.

'Well, isn't that just enough to make a grown man sick?' The pair of them spun at the sound of a third voice intruding on their conversation.

'Davy?'

'Lover's corner. How apropos. Though I'm guessing you didn't come here for a quick snog.' He cast his gaze down at the books strewn everywhere. 'Looking for something?'

Jack's face crumpled into a scowl. 'Of course it had to be someone from the president's council, didn't it?' he said, pieces all falling into place for him. 'Someone who could organise this whole thing and get the keys to the castle.'

Davy ignored the comment. 'Ianto Jones. Aren't you just a dark horse? Torchwood and all, who'd have thought?' He turned and sneered in Jack's direction. 'Of course I remember you from twenty years ago, Jack. Prowling around the school halls. Using mind probes on all the teachers, thinking one of them was the culprit. Haven't aged a day though, have you? You're looking pretty youthful yourself, Ianto. What is it? Magic Torchwood technology that makes you live longer? Or does it just feel longer? It felt long enough to me, but not long to go now. Worth the wait, some would say.'

Davy stepped forward and Jack raised his gun. 'Don't come any closer.'

'I'm not going to hurt you. I just dropped by to pick something up.' He moved further down the aisle, cutting between the two men on each side.

'I said, stop. Move one more step and I'll shoot,' Jack warned.

Davy ignored Jack's threats. 'You'll never find it. Of course, it's taken a while even for me to find it again. Busy night. They keep moving things around, you see. No Dewey decimal system for this one and it kept shifting.' He ran a hand along the shelf, studying it carefully. 'Yes, we're close now. All that magnetic interference is a nuisance, isn't it?'

He finally landed on a spot, reaching in to grab the thinnest book imaginable, only it widened more and more as it was drawn from between two other heavy volumes on each side. Eventually the book that came out was easily four inches thick and not at all like the one that had been sitting there innocently on the shelf, virtually hidden from view.

'Perception filter,' Ianto said.

'Yes.' Davy flipped it open and revealed the hollowed out section and the smooth, silver and green device lying inside. It gave off a slight greenish glow and hummed when he ran a finger over it.

'Don't touch that!' Jack yelled.

Ianto looked at Jack. 'You know what it is?'

'Ion fission transmat power unit. Banned in ninety seven sectors of the Unified Conglomerate.'

'What's it do?'

'Transports matter anywhere in time and space. Like this,' he said, giving his left wrist a jiggle, referring to his vortex manipulator, 'only a whole lot more powerful. Too powerful. And dangerous. The design was volatile at best. Had a tendency to go kaboom when you least expected it, or just run out of gas altogether. Time travel of that kind was outlawed. Even the Agency had strict rules about what you could and couldn't do with one of these. We collected them up, destroyed them. Black market would've paid a mint for even a single one.'

'Your rift pulled me out of my matter stream and damaged it.'

'Lucky it didn't blow you to bits,' Jack observed.

'I repaired it. But it was depleted. I've been biding my time, letting it soak up the energy from your rift. It was a long wait, but worth it. Now I can finally get off this miserable planet.'

'No, no, no,' Jack said. He pointed angrily at the device. 'That thing is crude technology. It needs to be powered up in a very controlled way. You can't just let it soak up raw, unrefined rift energy. The neutronium backwave it would create…'

'How bad?' Ianto asked, keeping his posture relaxed and unthreatening, which was easy since he was completely unarmed except for a copy of Newman's Almanac of Physics.

'Like trying to light a campfire with a stick of dynamite and a can of jet fuel when a cigarette lighter will do,' Jack replied. 'You activate that thing now and you'll wipe out everything for fifty miles, and irradiate the area for three billion years.'

'Like I care.'

'You've lived in that body for over twenty years. Don't you care about anyone here?'

'Twenty years is nothing for my species. I don't have any loyalty to this place. It can burn in hell for having stolen me from my matter stream in the first place.' Jack grimaced. 'Then I'm sorry, but we can't let you do that.'

Davy sneered at them. 'You haven't changed one bit.'

Jack's eyes narrowed. 'What species are you, anyway? You're clearly not human.'

'I come from the glory of the race of the Langaarii.'

'Never heard of them. Shapeshifters?'

'Nothing so… vile.' He spat the last word out with disdain.

'So, why take on the body of a teenager? You could've picked any form.'

'I didn't choose this body. It was the one that came along first when my ship crashed. Your atmosphere is so toxic. We cannot sustain our natural form on a world like this. It nearly killed me, arriving here. Taking a host body was the only way to survive. I took its memories and lived inside it until I was strong enough to take control fully. It took less time than I expected. Once I had control, there was no reason to leave it until I was ready.'

Ianto strained his memories, searching for a point at which he'd noticed a change and could find one. He'd tried so hard to get the gang to accept Davy into the fold but they all laughed and said he wasn't cut out. "Cut him loose, Iant, if you want to hang with us. Can't have both."

And so had ended their bike rides down the river, mucking about beneath the trees along the Ely, sharing a single cigarette between them as they lay on the grass and talked shit. Maybe that's what Davy had been doing the day the alien had taken him - taken his bike and gone on that same ride alone, hanging out under those same trees, but with no one to share his pilfered fags. And the alien had landed in that same copse of trees and taken him when he wasn't looking. Ianto might have been able to do something to stop it, even if he wasn't sure what. What would a seventeen year old him have been able to do against a body snatching alien? He didn't know, but it didn't stop the string of possibilities continuing to tumble around his mind.

'Odd place to keep something so valuable,' Jack mused, 'especially if you knew it'd be a long time before you could use it again. I'd be keeping that thing safe under my pillow if it were me, except for the whole worry that it might blow my head off while I was sleeping one night. Most kids hide things they don't want found under their bed and stuff in the back corners of their closets. Junk food, cigarettes, porn magazines, maybe a sneaky bottle of booze.'

Ianto took a step forward, knowing the answer to that little mystery.' Except Davy's mum was OCD and was forever cleaning everything. Couldn't hide so much as a packet of chewing gum in that house, key alone a nuclear power device.'

'Ah,' Jack nodded. 'So, nowhere else to hide it.'

'Unlike this dump of a place,' Davy said. 'No one ever went in here. Half of them wouldn't be able to read big words. Certainly never spoke any with more than four letters. I didn't always have the perception filter technology. I only managed to steal that just before graduation. Nearly got caught by Torchwood in the process, but I beat you there only just and it was worth it. Plus, if it did happen to go off…'

'You'd be well clear of it when it did,' Jack finished for him.

'Made sure I stayed outside the possible radius of any blast and waited, Safe I the knowledge that it would recharge itself without any assistance. Orchestrating the rest was child's play.'

'But why kill Molly?' Ianto asked. 'What did she have to do with anything?'

'Molly saw you,' Jack surmised. 'Saw what you were doing.'

'She always suspected something and then she just happened to find me here, hiding this away. Once she'd seen the book its perception filter qualities wouldn't work on her. I told her if she helped me keep it hidden and kept her mouth shut I'd let her live.'

'But she didn't.'

'She learned the hard way how the Langaarii deal with treachery.'

'How did you get away with it? You must have been covered in blood.'

'I can't exist outside this body for more than a few of your earth minutes but that was all it took. Davy was just a shell by then, a vessel. I left this body out of the way and returned once it was done. Turns out Molly's first real encounter with alien life didn't live up to all those expectations.'

'You didn't have to kill her,' Ianto said, feeling a rage begin to burn inside him. 'You could have taken your power unit and hid it somewhere else. No one would have believed her if she'd said she thought you were an alien. Everyone knew she was a bit weird.'

'She would have haunted my footsteps everywhere I went for the next twenty years, trying to expose me.'

'You should have come to us,' Jack said. 'We could have helped.'

'Oh, I watched you from afar. I saw what you did to creatures like us. Killing. Always killing. That's what Torchwood does.'

'You knew who I was the minute I strolled through those doors tonight. That's what got you all flustered around Ianto, wasn't it? Afraid I'd come here knowing what you were up to.'

'Of course. How ironic that our paths should cross again like this. You humans are all the same.' He shot a baleful look in Ianto's direction. 'Another generation of trained murderers.'

'We don't kill aliens,' Ianto argued. 'Only the ones that are too dangerous to let live. Only when there's no other option.'

'And you started this,' Jack reminded him. 'That girl didn't have to die. You could've run away and joined the circus, buried that thing somewhere and come back for it, but you didn't. You murdered an innocent girl and now Torchwood is here to bring justice to her family and the thousands of others your device will obliterate if we let you walk outta here tonight.'

'I'm not taking a one way trip to a Shadow Proclamation prison vessel.'

'I'm the one holding the gun,' Jack replied. 'I don't think you get much of a say in the matter.'

Davy grinned and it set a cold feeling of dread through Ianto. 'I set up a secondary device. It'll blow this whole school apart.'

'Why?' Jack nodded at the power unit.' Use that thing and you'll kill everyone anyway.'

'I want to be here and see it when they're all destroyed. Payback for the way they all treated me. Filthy human scum. My kind should come back here and wipe you all out. It's due to blow in about ten minutes and I'd hate to think what would happen if this power pack were still in the vicinity when it did. I did tell you things would go off with a bang.'

Ianto quickly checked his watch. '9:51. Shit.'

Davy grinned at Ianto's revelation. 'Ten o'clock and this whole place is going up.'

'Not if I shoot you first and get it out of harm's way,' Jack replied.

'You could, but I set up a little dead man's switch. Wasn't part of my original plan but once I saw you here tonight I knew I couldn't take any chances. Kill me and it goes off even sooner. Goodbye Cardiff, goodbye Newport, goodbye Swansea. And goodbye Torchwood.'

Ianto could see the confident expression of Jack's face cloud over to worry as he kept his gun raised.

'How many die tonight, Jack? A few hundred or a few million? Your choice.'

Ianto lunged for Davy as his back was turned, leaving Ianto no longer caught there in the corner of his eye. He wrapped his arms tight around Davy and pinned them to his sides. He'd always been bigger and taller than Davy, able to outrun him on the pitch or beat him in a scrum, then as he did now. The power unit clattered to the ground amongst the fallen books and Ianto thought it was over.

It worked but only for a moment. There was a loud growl and snarl and then the alien creature burst forth in a cloud of energised particles. They hung in the air for only a second before forming into a huge eight foot tall beast that was all razor sharp edges and blood red skin. Its long arms ended in a foot and a half of curling claws that looked to be sharp as knives. Davy's body went limp and loose in Ianto's arms like a sack of potatoes.

The alien swung one scythe-like limb toward Jack, running four huge gashes across his leg and felling him to the ground. Jack howled in pain and his webley dropped from his hand. With a secondary swipe of its other arm, it swept the gun away, sending it skittering under a row of shelves and out of reach.

Ianto let go of the now useless weight of Davy's body, unable to get past the alien to retrieve Jack's gun. Lacking anything else he could use for a weapon he took a large navy blue leather volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and threw it as hard as he could at the back of its head before it could rip Jack open from groin to gullet. The book landed with a thunk that jolted the alien head forward before it spun and snarled at him, all rage and fury.

'Oh, you liked that? C'mon. I've still got twenty five more letters of the alphabet to go.' He yanked the next one off the shelf and held it aloft, readying to throw it when the creature lunged toward him and skewered it with one arm, sending the four bladed claws all the way through, cover to cover and sticking out the other side a full five inches. The tip of the razor sharp claws missed Ianto's nose by the narrowest of margins as he gripped the book with both hands to stop it moving closer. 'Or not.'

The alien flung its arm wide, the book flying out of Ianto's grip and releasing its claws simultaneously as it stepped closer. It was about to take another swipe at Ianto when something clubbed it from behind.

'Hey, pick on someone your own size,' Jack said, holding himself up by the ledge of the bookshelf and armed with yet another heavy volume. 'Bet you've gotten used to that body after all this time. How much longer can you survive without it?'

There was a moment of hesitation as the alien considered it.

'Yeah, I'll bet you're feeling weak already. All that damn atmosphere. So very toxic. Isn't that what you said? Just breathe it in.'

Ianto could tell the alien was faltering with indecision. Did it strike them whilst it was built for killing and risk dying, or trying to make an escape back to the haven of its human body host? Ianto realised a split second too slowly that as it turned and dissolved into a cloud of atoms once more that it was lunging not towards the inert body in the ground, but straight towards him. He tried to move but he was rooted to the spot, wondering if he'd be strong enough to fight it rather than fast enough to evade it.

Something came at him from the side, hitting him hard and sending him toppling sideways. His head connected with the metal edge and of the stack of shelves and for a moment things flickered between black and starry. When he blinked, Jack was lying awkwardly over the top of him, hissing as his injured leg bent underneath him on top of a pile of books from the now upturned trolley. Jack must have shoved him out of harm's way. 'Ow,' he groaned, feeling his aching head.

'Sorry,' Jack winced, watching as the cloud gave up attempting to take one of them as host, diving back into Davy's body and very quickly making a run for it.

'He's got the power unit!' Ianto said, watching the silver object clutched under Davy's arm as he was helping Jack back to his feet. 'We can't let him activate it.'

Jack nodded in heated agreement, scrambling under the shelf for his gun. 'I'm going after Davy. You go find and disarm that bomb. And get everyone the hell outta here.'

'No, I'll go after Davy,' Ianto argued. 'You find the bomb. He knows me. Maybe I can still talk him down. There's got to be something left of him inside there to fight back.'

Jack pulled away from Ianto who until now had been holding him up as his leg tried to very slowly heal itself. 'Davy's gone, Ianto. I need to stop him before he can calibrate that power unit and use it. You know the school better than anyone and where that bomb might be hidden.'

'How come you always get to do the dashing heroic thing? And you've got half your leg torn up. How's that going to go chasing after an alien?'

'Honey, could we maybe argue about this later?'

Ianrto realised how ridiculous it was to be talking about things like that at a time like this. 'Ticking time bomb. Right. You go chase. I'll go hunt.'

Jack pulled him in for the world's speediest kiss before limping down the corridor, Ianto at his side. 'Let's roll.'



They quickly crossed from C Block to A Block, jogging the whole way, Ianto taking the lead and using every shortcut he knew. Just as he knew Davy would know. He almost crash tackled right into a huge, beefy man with a bottle of beer in one hand and someone, who very clearly wasn't his other half, wrapped around his other hand.

'You need to get out of here now,' Jack told them in no uncertain terms.

The man gave him a look of complete incomprehension before scowling. 'Piss off.'

'No, really,' Jack said. 'Everyone here is in danger. You have to get out. Now. Tell as many people as you can to just get out.'

The big man stepped up into Jack's personal space, puffing out his chest. 'Don't you tell me what to fucking do.' He gave Jack an arrogant appraising up and down look. 'All you gays is the same thinking you own the place and can tell everyone else what to do and-'

Ianto threw a sharp right hook and the guy crumpled to the ground, out cold.

Jack looked mildly surprised. 'How long have you been wanting to do that?'

He massaged his bruised knuckles, wincing at the pain. 'Oh, only about twenty years.'

Jack spared time for a grin. 'Feels good, huh?'

'Oh, yeah. That one's for the PE teacher who said I'd never take down a half scrum if my life depended on it.'

Jack chuckled. 'Regale me later. Eight minutes before the world ends.'

'Don't kill him,' Ianto yelled after Jack, who was now running despite his leg.

'I'll only strangle him a little, I promise,' he called back over his shoulder. 'Call me when we're safe.'



Safe. Yeah. There's a concept, Ianto muttered, jogging back towards the assembly hall. He found the lighting panel on the far wall, all of the labels for the switches faded from years of use. He studied the panel, looking desperately for the emergency alarm switch and not finding one. 'No fire alarm. Bloody cheap state school!' Ianto cursed. How the hell was he meant to raise the alarm and get everyone out?

'Ianto? What are you doing over there?' It was Mary, still arm in arm with Iain as they wandered out of the hall.

'You need to leave. Both of you. Right now.'

Mary frowned at him like he was half mad. 'The night's not over yet. We've got the sitter booked for the whole evening. We were just popping out to the loo. Yet another of the joys of childbirth. The constant bathroom breaks.'

'No, I'm serious. I just found out that someone's planted a bomb here and it's set to go off in…' he checked his watch again, 'shitting hell, five minutes. Just get in the car and go. Drive as fast as you can. Any direction will do. Just drive.'

Iain frowned. 'Ianto, mate. I thought you said you were a public servant?'

'I'm really high up. Just trust me. Go!'

Iain took Mary by the arm and the two of them bolted, pausing only to cast one brief, worried look over their shoulders at him.

'Get all these people out of here or try and find the bomb,' Ianto muttered to himself. 'I can't do both. And if I don't stop the bomb it won't make a shred of difference whether they get out or not. Right. Bomb it is.' He turned only to find Sophie still standing there, looking at him.

'Sophie, you need to get out of here.'

'No. I overheard you telling Iain to drive somewhere. Why? What's going on?'

'There's no time to explain. You just need to go. Please.' Just seeing her standing there made the seriousness of the situation all too real for him.

Sophie stood her ground. 'If you're not going then I'm not. If there's something wrong…'

'It's different for me. I have to stay here and see this through.'

'Why?'

'Because I'm Torchwood.' He closed his eyes as the secret slipped so easily from him. 'And because there's a bomb somewhere here set to go off any minute now.'

Her hand flew to her mouth. 'A bomb? Jesus, Ianto.'

'I know, that's why you have to get out now. I'm going to try and find it and dismantle it, but if I don't succeed…' He couldn't tell her the rest - how he'd die and then eventually come back, but it was better than all of them dying. Maybe they all would, even despite, and he'd have to live with that, knowing he'd failed them. 'I've just got to go.'

Sophie grabbed him by the hand, really hard. 'Then I'm coming with you. No arguments. You're not doing this on your own. I don't care if you're Torchwood.'

He was out of time to argue with her. 'Fine.'

'Should I call the police? Emergency services?' she asked, rushing alongside him, phone already in hand and looking a hell of a lot calmer than he felt himself.

'They'd never get here in time.'

'God, all those people in there.'

'I know.'

'Do you know where it is?'

'Not a clue. It was Davy. He… long story,' he said. Running out into the courtyard and looking around three hundred and sixty degrees, expecting the answer to hit him in the face. The place was pitch dark. It could be just metres away and he still wouldn't be able to spot it. Indoors, outdoors. It could be anywhere. 'Okay, if I was a homicidal alien, where would I hide an explosive device? Principal's office? Behind the bike sheds? Tucked in Mrs Winterbottom's desk drawer where she hid the bottle of gin?'

Sophie grabbed his arm. 'Wait. You said Davy did this? Davy Roberts?'

'Yeah. Sort of. Not really him, though. Alien body snatcher thing.'

'Why?'

'I dunno. Twenty year grudge? In my experience, aliens don't tend to need a lot of reason, other than to wipe humanity from the face of the planet. That's just what they do. Although, it does have all Davy's memories. That's got to help us somehow.'

Her hand tightened on his arm. 'The Dragon's Den.'

Of course. Where kids who weren't part of the gang got dealt with. Where the gang Ianto was a part of roughed people up and set them straight. A cosy little nook between two buildings where a large set of concrete stairs lead up to the art room, but just enough space between the stairs and the building wall to drag someone inside and beat the crap out of them in complete privacy.

Ianto always tried to pretend that part of it wasn't happening. He didn't mind them hanging out and tagging crumbling brick walls along the railway lines whilst they smoked to their heart's content, but roughing up other kids just because they'd done something to annoy a single member of the gang wasn't right. When it happened, Ianto usually sat on the stairs facing the other way, trying to be deeply engrossed in the conversation his other mates were having whilst it was going on. He didn't want to see it or hear it. He was just glad it wasn't happening to him.

He ran across the courtyard, towards the old corner steps. Sure enough, tucked right in the darkest corner, illuminated by the tiny beam from his torch, he found something he really wished he hadn't.

'Oh yeah, that's a bomb.' He knelt down in front of it. 'Still, at least it looks like it's made from Earth-based materials. Mostly. Here, hold this,' he said, handing Sophie the torch whilst he removed a pocket knife from his bundle of keys. 'Okay… just going to very carefully use this screwdriver bit to undo the cover and see what we're dealing with.'

Sophie watched him intently. 'You've done this before?'

'Uh, nope. First time. Seems like we're always sharing first times, doesn't it?' he said, jokingly, trying to hide the fact that he was bricking it. 'First time having sex, first time dismantling a massive explosive device…' He twiddled the screwdriver as quickly and carefully as he could to release the four screws holding the cover panel in place, before gently prising it away.

Ianto frowned as he finally got a glimpse of the internal workings. 'Not exactly the Radio Shack kit you get off eBay, is it?'

'Ianto, look at the timer.'

He didn't need to, of course. He could see as well as Sophie that it read two minutes and twelve seconds. Or had done about seven seconds ago.'That's an awful lot of plastic explosive tucked under there,' he added, spotting the large square block of grey looking material that the unit was attached to. 'Ah…' he toyed with the pen knife, trying to follow the path of every single wire from explosive to timer unit.

'Ianto, you're running out of time!'

'Yes, I know that, Sophie! No need to remind me and dump on a bit more pressure. Even less time if Jack gets trigger happy. He's got this thing wired up to a dead man's switch on top. Davy dies and…' He didn't say the rest, instead taking a deep breath. 'Okay, these ones here are all connecting the timer to the control box, and these ones here are control box to explosives, and these ones here are, er, something else. The dead man's switch, I'm guessing. They look like recent additions.' He snapped those wires first, glad when nothing happened, and tugged the exposed ends out of the block of plastic explosive for good measure. 'That leaves just these two,' he said, pointing to one red wire and one green one falling into the "timer to control box'' category.

'Thirty seconds!'

Don't panic. But of course he was bloody panicking! He was sitting right next to a bomb about to go off. 'Right. Red one. Green one. Which one?' Shit! Which one?

'Green one,' Sophie insisted.

Ianto shook his head, still unsure. What if Davy had switched them so that Ianto only thought he was cutting the right one and instead blew them all to kingdom come? Did aliens use reverse psychology? Ten seconds was not enough time to make that assessment. 'Are you sure?'

'Ianto, I may not have hotwire a motorbike in twenty years but I still know the difference between a red wire and a green one.' He hesitated in his decision and Sophie snatched the knife from his hand.

'Sophie, no!' but she'd already grabbed the green wire and clipped it with the blade. They waited a few awful seconds but nothing happened. 'Bloody hell,' Ianto finally said, sitting back on his heels and breathing out a deep breath of relief. 'Oh, thank God.'

'Told you.'

Ianto fumbled for his phone, hands still shaking a little from the rush of adrenaline. 'Jack? It's done. The bomb is disarmed. The dead man's switch is deactivated.'

'Understood.'

Ianto only had to wait a second and then he heard the sharp ring of gunshot clearly through the phone receiver, echoing off in the distance. Just one bullet and then nothing.

Sophie looked at him. 'It's over?'

Ianto nodded, swallowing hard. 'It's over. Lucky that. I was going to pick the red one.'

'And your Torchwood, huh?'

'We all have our off days. And you know, trying to be heroic in front of a pretty girl isn't as easy as it sounds.'

Sophie quirked an eyebrow at him. 'Pretty?'

'Always. Your husband is a very lucky man.'

She smiled. 'You bet your arse he is. So is yours. Maybe we could do a double date sometime.'

'I don't think so. Jack's into threesomes and moresomes. You'd only be encouraging him. Coffee, though? Just us?'

She smiled. 'It's a date.'



Bad music was still bellowing from the hall as they walked back toward it, only it seemed to have increased in volume now that everyone had had a few more drinks. It sounded like it was going to be more of a party than Ianto had promised Jack, after all. Cheap booze, loud music and a few hundred rowdy, drunken Welshmen. Kind of seemed obvious now he thought about it.

Jack appeared out of the darkness, making their duo a trio. 'Everyone okay?'

'Yeah. You?'

'I'm good.'

'Your leg,' Sophie cried, seeing the bloodstains and huge tears in Jack's dark grey trousers. He was still limping a little, but not as much as before.

'He'll be fine,' Ianto assured her. 'Takes more than a scratch to take down Captain Jack Harkness.' Jack grinned and gave a salute to match his winning smile.

'And Davy?'

'Dead,' Jack confirmed. 'One sniper bullet to the head from sixty feet. Even you'd have been impressed. Turns out you can't shed from the dead.'

'And the power unit?'

'Already tucked up nice and safe in the SUV until we can get it back to the hub and drained of all that rift energy.'

'Good, we can add it to the forty kilos of plastic explosive I found. Though maybe we should take them back in separate trips. Just in case. '

Jack laughed. 'That should cover us for about the next three hundred Guy Fawkes nights. And you're right, that power unit really is a little on the delicate side right now. Lucky we took your car tonight.'

'In which case, I think I'll be the one driving, if it's all the same to you.' He knew what Jack was like behind the wheel and he was even worse in Ianto's car, treating it like a dodgem.

Sophie considered the pair of them as they stood there, talking like this was just a normal night out. 'You're really Torchwood. Both of you?'

Jack slipped an arm around Ianto's waist. 'Couldn't do it without him.'

'Not that you'll probably remember it,' Ianto said, realising what came next.

'Oh, I don't know, Ianto,' Jack said. 'It's been a night for walking down memory lane. Be a shame to throw it all away.' He turned to Sophie. 'Of course, if you wanted to forget tonight, that's an option, too.'

'And forget that everything turned out okay in the end after all this time? Don't think so.' She reached up to peck Ianto on the cheek. 'Don't be a stranger, okay?' She turned and gave Jack one as well. 'And I've got lots of stories about Ianto. I'll bet he hasn't told you any of them.'

'Dinner at ours next week?' Jack asked hopefully.

'No need to rush these things. Those stories aren't going anywhere.' She looked over their shoulders as the steadily rowdier growing crowd. 'Think I'll head off. Kiss my husband and hope he doesn't snore too loudly. See you around.'

'I have to hand it to you, Ianto,' Jack said, pulling him close as Sophie wandered to her car, 'you always did have excellent taste.'

'Just don't be getting any ideas,' Ianto warned him, squeezing back. 'My good taste only extends to one at a time.'



Jack had stolen two bottles of wine from the table downstairs, coupled them with two glasses and a plate full of cold party pies before leading them up to that roof. From the edge where they were perched, they could see the lights from the nearby football stadium, and beyond that the miniscule flickering of the lights from the city centre, stretching out towards the bay. This was a much better way to spend their evening in Ianto's opinion - alone together with a bottle of plonk, even if it was terribly cheap tasting. They'd still get drunk just as well. If not quicker.

'You know,' Ianto said once he'd drained a whole glass and refilled it again, 'I keep thinking about Davy and what might have happened if I had only stayed friends with him and not caved into peer pressure to join the gang. Would I have seen the signs that something wasn't right? Could I have stopped him from killing Molly?'

Jack was pensive and silent. 'He hasn't been Davy for a long, long time. No point dwelling on ifs and buts. Could just have easily been you I was cleaning up off the school corridor walls and shoving in a bag to be incinerated. Maybe both of you.'

'I still feel so guilty. Davy was always there when I needed him. There when I needed to get out of the house and away from Dad and all his problems.' Ianto took another sip of wine, letting the sour taste linger in his mouth before swallowing. 'Pretty poor way to repay him.:

'You were just a kid. Even with all the homework and technology and training we still didn't spot it until it was almost too late.:

Ianto let his wine glass rest in his lap as he leaned his head against Jack's shoulder, their feet dangling off the edge of the building as they watched the twinkling sodium glow of city lights. He was no longer interested in getting drunk.

'So, Ianto Jones, think you'll be back for the next twenty year reunion?'

'I don't think so. It was hard enough passing off looking thirty when I'm supposed to look nearly forty. I don't think they're going to believe I've aged that well when I'm sixty. They'll probably think I've sent my son along in my stead just for a laugh. Then again, who knows? Twenty years is a long time in this job and with you around, maybe I'll have a few grey hairs to show for it after all.'

Jack pulled him close to his side, a wide smile breaking out over his face. 'You'll always be classic and timeless to me.'