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Naked and Confused

Ianto had been led into the dingy apartment of that Jack who recovered him when he was left to just four legs, a cold wet nose and a yellow fur coat. He's laying there in the bed of the other man with nothing on. He stirs in his sleep, it feels right the cotton sheets on his bare flesh.

Ianto is slow to wake-up, he yawns as he stares at the ceiling. "Ugh.." He mumbles to himself, and he turns his head to look around the room. His eyes settle on the discarded gray greatcoat on a chair. "How did I?" He tries to think how he ended up naked in the bed of a Jack.

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"Yeah. It was pretty incredible. The sky..it was amazing." He nods he can agree to that. Get out for a bit. Why not. "Sure. We can do that. It'll be nice. We can see how much attention we get."

The captain sits up a little and moves to look at the Welshman. "Now you're mind is thinking like mine? Or rather like mine used to." He snorts and laughs. "That's funny." Jack smiles softly. "Thank you. That's all I'm asking for. Just this."

"New York. Right..I do? Yes..I do, but maybe working for a bit will help. I couldn't hurt. I wouldn't be leader. Might be nice to not have that responsibility."

"I never got outside, we were locked inside the HUB thanks to Tosh's Time Lock," Ianto could of only imagined what would of happened if that Dalek managed to get inside of the HUB with his best friends. He knows it wouldn't of been much of a party and he doubts they would of enjoyed coffee or Owen's cheap porn.

"I'm the walking dead you know," Ianto chuckles just a little bit, he recalls something and it couldn't be worse. "We had our share of Rift manipulated zombies to last us a life time."

There's a wry look on Ianto's face, the confidence of his new role has proven successful, okay so he turned into a bit of a drippy mess in this Jack's arms. "We'll find that dirty little mind of yours again. Of course, that's if you want it to be found."

"Yes, New York, it's well rather surreal," Ianto will admit about the new work they have there. "It did make sense for the Rift to be more than just Cardiff. We've got reports of activity happening Mexico."

"It was..indescribable. Tosh was incredible. She was brilliant. I don't even know what would have happened if she hadn't lock you all in there. Owen could have sarcasm'd the Daleks to death no doubt." Jack laughs. That method probably would never have worked, but he doesn't doubt for a second that the medic couldn't have at least confused the aliens for a little while.

The captain snorts and rolls his eyes a bit with a slight smile. "Yeah. Don't remind me. Except you aren't dead. Not anymo--You weren't you fixed it."

The captain smirks and quirks an eyebrow. "Who am I without that dirty mind of mine? It feels nice to actually feel almost me. Thanks you. I'll probably fall apart again before the day is over, but even if it's just for a little while it's nice."

"I don't understand. The rift was always localized to Cardiff. Nearly a century and a half it hadn't changed. What changed it now?." It was true it hadn't moved as far as Jack--well actually the time that the Abaddon broke through the Rift was fracturing all over the world. Was that the start of it? It might have been. It doesn't matter nothing can change what's already happening. "Mexico? I've never been to Mexico. Maybe going back to work wouldn't be so bad. It would give me a chance to travel."

"I had seen images of it from CCTV. It was dreadful outside of the HUB," Ianto considers he knows they're lucky for the Doctor, he thinks to the Master and those things. "Ah, yes Owen and his sarcasm, he'd sarcasm anything to death." It's good to find common memories to get this Jack to at least feel better. "We had a straggler in a Canal Street Subway tunnel, well a couple that went to sleep. Oh, no worries we got rid of them."

Ianto recalls those zombies, the zombies that came from an alien living in the host body of a hospital patient. He shudders and took a beating, he's got scars on his body from that. "I never was dead, I'd like to get a few more years of living."

"Nope. You didn't spend much time reading did you? All of those Torchwoods scattered across the world, of course our threats weren't all localized to cracks in time and space," Ianto's starting to wonder for a moment, there's a moment of brilliance. "I'd say it's almost like we're just sitting on one fault line out of many." Ianto wonders if Owen made it worse, or it's now something else all together. "Yes, Mexico of course there's plenty of alien activity in that sector. It's always been, but the American military likes to thumb its nose into it."

He laughs a little bit about the idea of a trip to Mexico. "I haven't been there either. I went to visit the old outpost in Canada. We closed it down, not like it was an issue due to the slowness of the staff during hockey season."

The captain is tired..

Mostly tired of thinking about everyone.

"You know I never spent much time reading. Shit, I don't even think I read half the reports I signed off on." He rubs his eyes with his free hand and groans softly. "I suppose that makes sense. I'm sure our tampering with it didn't help matters."

Of course the American military would they they always thought they were so much better than everyone else. That they know everything. "Well. I suppose I don't know as much about things as I thought I did."

"Hockey? I never have understood that sport. I wouldn't mind traveling. It's been so long since I really traveled. Maybe going back with you might be worth it if I can travel." He closes his eyes and doesn't even realize that his fingers are lazily moving lightly over the material of his own shirt on the younger man's back.

The movement gentle, affectionate and bordering the edge of being a bit more than just friendly. Jack stills his hand and clenches his fist behind the younger man's back. Not his. Not his. Not his.

"The coffee's cold." He mumbles hoping it's enough to get them up and moving. It's what Ianto wants right? To help him start /doing/ something again. "Did you still want pizza? We can eat. Then go out for a bit? Before it gets to late?"

"Habits of Captain Jack Harkness, they known many of the same universe, a universal quirk," Ianto tries to push the conversation away from the past of this Captain. He knows of Tosh and Owen's deaths, he prevented the fates of his own due to use of future knowledge. "Of course not, or it was bound to happen."

Ianto gave Jack a small nod of his head, he made it his job to keep up on these things while Jack went to save the world. "It was all apart of the job."

"You'll enjoy American football then, large men in tight pants piling on top of each other," Ianto laughed, he didn't get that one either but he knows Jack might find humor in it. "Traveling is all part of the job sometimes." Then there's a pause and mock look of fright. "You're suggesting a road trip, sir? If you're thinking I'm going to smoke unhealthy amounts of pot, you're going to be sadly mistaken."

Still he likes the idea of encouraging more travel. "The last place I visited was Puerto Rico for Jack's wedding. I'll note the Welsh are not made for tropical climates. We tend to burn." Ianto slouches back into the couch, the contact of Jack's fingers along the fabric of his shirt is comforting.

"I'll make another pot. You can order the pizza."

"Funny how that works right? Nice to know we're all basically the same. We all have an allergy to paperwork." Another is living forever, but why bring that up they both already know that. "Maybe it was. I just can't help think that our tampering might have played a bigger part in it."

"You were always better at keeping up with those sort of things. That's one of the reasons you were the best at your job. You attention to those details that I would over look." Jack knows a lot. A lot more than he lets on. He spent a lot of days sitting in his office claiming to pretend to do paperwork.

The cluttered mess of files on his desk steadily expanding. Not because Jack actually refused, but because he was taking his time reading them one by one. If one paid close enough attention to the files on his desk you'd be able to tell that they weren't always in the same place. Jack paid a lot more attention than people gave him credit for. He just found it amusing that everyone alway /assumed/ he wasn't doing the paperwork. So he just played alog.

How he missed /this/ is beyond him. Rift activity in other countries? Not entirely far fetched, but for whatever reason somewhat unexpected.

Jack tilts his head away from Ianto and laughs again with the clear chipper laugh that he had almost forgotten existed. "Large men in tight pants piling on top of each other? Where do I sign up?." He stares down at the younger man and his mildly comical expression and tries with a considerable amount of effort to remain serious replying. "I am suggesting a road trip. Are you suggesting you'd come with me?" The immortal grins. That familiar flirty grin that made the Doctor stop any of Jack's conversation just after that exact grin. "I suppose not now that's out though since my plans have been foiled."

The immortal grins it falters only briefly before Jack corrects it. It was nothing. He realizes how much fun he's having. That he was laughing and having a carrying on a conversation with someone without crying.

"Puerto Rico? How extravagant. Was it nice there? Aside from your lack of sun tolerance." The image of Ianto in something more tropical as far as clothing bring a bit of a smile to the captains face. "Well you might have to take my advice and get out of those suits a nit more.

How about /I/ make the coffee and you please order. You know the number. You know what I like. I can't mess up with this coffee maker. I think it's why Gwen got it for me. "If you don't mind of course.

"It is amusing," Ianto knew Jack did go through his stuff, he did it at his own pace and on those restless nights. Jack knew more than most let on, Ianto and Alisa knew this well. "Nobody knows, we suspect one of the many Doctors is responsible. Typical Time Lords."

Ianto avoids mention of Master or the one who resembles Master, he places a hand to his head. It's on the side of being confusing with the various alternates that seem to run around. "It would explain some areas, but we never did fully understand the Rift. I suspect this has nothing to do with the Rift, but the entire fracturing of the universes. It's why I'm here."

He knew Jack would find some humor in that, it's Jack's style after all. Ianto smiles a the suggestion. "I believe you missed try outs to go pro." Ianto could only imagine it, he can't help but to laugh out loud. "You would be the only one willing to be tackled." Then there's a mention of a road trip once more. "I would come. You do know I hate camp." Ianto's voice is dead serious there, he doesn't want to be considered food for anyone especially cannibals. "That's my purpose in life right? It's to keep you out of trouble." Ianto thinks of somewhere they could go that would be nice. "We can figure somewhere nice when we get to New York. America is a big place."

"It was nice there," Ianto will admit, there's a bit of a blush. He knows Jack would love a burnt Ianto. "And, yes coffee does grow on trees there." He knows for now he does have to get out of those suits, he looks at the white undershirt he's in. "This counts. You'll get to see me out of suits more often. I rather not chance a gun in my face that's not Torchwood related.

Ianto gives Jack a horrified look. "You make coffee? I'm surprised you didn't burn the apartment down." He's almost scared to say yes. "I can do both, they know my voice at the pizza place."

"No. This is nothing typical of Time Lords. Not my matter though. You have your own team and Jack to sort it all out." Jack rubs his temple. It is logical that the Rift could be like an artery and that the rest of the cracks were stem from it. But to blame the Doctor? No. The Doctor should be blamed for for a lot of things. Not being there when the 456 arrived for starters, but causing what ever this multidimensional 'bleeding' is. The immortal doubts it.

The Welshman is possibly right what they are experiencing may have nothing to do with the Rift at all an everything to do with the universe being in a fragile state and it's walls are becoming brittle and are starting to crack. If that's the case then they're work is really going to be cut out for them. I might be fun.

The captain 'Tsks' amused. "That's too bad. I think you might just be right about that. Who wouldn't want to be on the bottom of a pile of men? Well besides possibly Owen..." The captain raises an eyebrow and looks at the younger man seriously for a moment. "There would be /absolutely/ no camping what so ever." The immortal tilts his head and smiles at Ianto "Keep me out of trouble, make a serious cup of coffee, and look hot in a suit...and out of one, just to name a few."

Jack catches himself about to make a comment more than likely to the effect of 'he'd like to see him out of the suit all the time.' but holds his tongue. The whispering voice in the back of his mind still proclaiming 'not his not his'. The nagging reminder that no matter how much he wants it to be true, this Ianto is not /his/ Ianto. Jack nods, "Yes it does. and lets not chance that we'll make sure that doesn't happen."

Why does everyone find it so shocking that in fact /yes/ Jack can make coffee. It's not like its all that difficult. especially on this machine. You just measure the coffee in to the filter add water and press start. The coffee starts brewing and then they started drinking it. He scoff is mock anger. "Yes.. I can make coffee. You're right about them knowing you're voice but I think they might be monitoring your location." Jack Chuckles softly and shakes his head gently. "No I haven't burned the place down.....yet. If you'd feel more comfortable handling it then go right a head."

"It could be something that not even Torchwood can figure out and fix," Ianto will admit that not everything is within it's understanding and ability to repair. Ianto likes his idea of it being a fault line but still that mystery remains.

He knew from earlier they had a lot of work to do with this Rift, from werewolves and insane doubles that still wander through some of the cracks. Ianto knows they need all of the help they can get. They're down a team member due to maternity and having that gap filled would be nice.

There's a pause for thought from Ianto. "I think only you, sir. I would like to breathe without broken ribs and a concussion." Ianto holds up a finger with a grin on his face. "I could do all of that in the Hub, but we could find somewhere nice to visit."

Ianto knows that maybe deep down, this Jack still would like more from him but Ianto smiles. "If time wants us together it'll be. Your heart's still heavy from your loss."

"I know you can, your coffee isn't bad. You would rather like my machine back in New York, it's got a strange sense of survival. It electrocutes anyone who is not me," Ianto chuckles, he has had no coffee machine breaks since one half-bread by the name of Theta Sigma fixed the last one. "I brought one of those to keep Owen happy." Ianto looks at the simple coffee machine in the kitchen. "I'll let you make the coffee. I'll call for the pizza then."

"True. This may just be unresolvable. Time travel has always been a tricky thing." If the conditions there are as busy as Jack thinks they might be then the level of distraction might just be what he needs. Besides, who wouldn't want /another/ man who can't die on their side? It would be like having a second ace in the hole.

"True you could do all those things in the Hub, but finding someplace...new...to.."Jack swallows the lump starting to form in his throat. As nice as taking a trip across America with this Ianto sounds he still isn't /his/. His will /never/ get to go on a trip with the captain. His lover is gone, they never got to do any of the things that 'couples' do. Especially, since Jack so adamantly proclaimed his hatred for that particular word.

With a furrowed brow he looks back at the Welshman. "I just struggling against some conflicting emotions. I don't want to make you uneasy."

The captain nods and shifts himself so he can stand. He picks up the two mugs from the table and heads into the kitchen to rinse them out and start a new pot. "My phone is in my coat pocket. I'll get the coffee. Good thing you finally found one smart enough it won't let Owen mess it up. I swear that he got some sort of sick pleasure from messing with the old one."

"It has been, we've tried to close some but only more reopen," Ianto's heard much about time travel. "I've yet to get my feet wet there." Ianto would never imagine using anyone like that, he thinks it's terrible that Jack has been used in such away.

He laughs and another cross country trip would be nice. "We can try, let us see where we are come the spring. The middle portion tends to be covered in snow come winter. I would like to see Seattle." Ianto waves a finger in the air. "I'd like to give a few Starbucks executives a piece of my mind."

"I know, I understand the emotions you're dealing with, I had to deal with them after Lisa's 'death'," Ianto admits, he knows how it feels to deal with those you love after they pass. Death is a warm friend to everyone, Captain Jack Harkness isn't alone there.

Ianto stands himself up to head over into the bed room, he stares at Jack's coat that was just thrown in a heap. "You do need to take better care of your coat." He still loves that coat, he picks it up to look at it. He's sure this is the same coat that was given to him by his Ianto. He carefully takes a pair of hangers to hang it up on and he hangs it up on a hook on the door. "Someone fixed it for me. Yes, and I got an even sicker pleasure in making sure he had decaff."

Thin layers. The parallel universes stacked like old cloth, frayed and tattered worn thinner than any of them ever imagined, and apparently bleeding through worse than they could have known. Not exactly something they teach you at the Time Agency. They'll have to make this up as they go along. Hopefully, the decisions they make won't effect the long term out come. If repairing some of the crack just causes more to open then they may find themselves like little boys with their fingers on the cracks in the dam. The efforts may, in the end prove to be futile. Preparing for the chance that the walls between the worlds may crumble might be an option they should consider. And something that the captain may take up with the other Jack when he finally does go to New York.

If he does go. Going to that New York would leave /his/ Cardiff open and vulnerable. Something that it honestly hasn't really been in all the years that the immortal his lived here. He's always been here to help protect it. There couldn't be too much harm in leaving it for a little while. Just to get away. Like a well earned vacation. A chance to start over and catch his breath.

There couldn't be too much harm in that could there?

Besides if the walls between the worlds are as worn as they seem then it shouldn't be too difficult to travel back and forth.

Right?

Jack smiles a bit at the younger man. "I hear Seattle is similar to Cardiff." He chuckles and rolls his eyes. "You would. I'm sure you have a lot to say to those self proclaimed coffee gods."

"I know. I..tend to forget you've been in a similar situation. I all but blocked those memories out. We were different men back then. Things like this are never easy." Sometimes Harkness you can be an insensitive self-centered asshole. How could you honestly forget the suffering he went through? Ianto was so blinded by his love that he nearly got everyone killed clinging to his hope.

The off chance that either man could be trapped in a world that isn't their own /finally/ catches up with the captain as he finishes preparing the pot to brew fresh coffee. What if they can't get back? In either direction. Jack isn't entirely sure he could leave his world exposed like that. He couldn't even stay gone after Ianto's death. He was drawn back here by his duty.

He's pulled from his thoughts by the Welshman's voice coming from his bedroom. He's right. He's always right. Jack should take better care of his coat. Especially /that/ coat. The replacement for the one destroyed in the Hub explosion. Hand picked by his lover. It's not his original coat, but it's far more valuable, and lately Jack has just been carelessly tossing it aside.

Tired, depressed and lonely he hardly cared about his appearance or if the coat was cared for properly. He just flung aside it letting it land where ever it fell, so use to the Welshman picking up after him, taking it to the cleaners, hanging it in it's proper place. Jack couldn't bring himself to do those things on his own. They weren't his job. They were Ianto's

"You're right. I need to do that. I need to pull my head out of my ass and do a lot of things." He calls back as he rinses the mugs and waits for the pot to finish brewing. "Oh I bet you did. Thankfully, I never made him angry enough to switch me to decaff. He did threaten to cut off my coffee supply once. It was some silly argument though and I made it up to him. I was always good about making things up to him."

Ianto will make sure to let this Jack see how bad it can be, there are areas where one can simply walk through to another universe and some are able to be repaired. He wonders how long many of those repairs would even last. He glances out at the window while he makes the phone call to order the pizza, he deepens his voice to make sure there's no 'wtf' happening among the pizza staff. He ordered two meat feasts, he knew Jack well. "You'll love New York's pizza." He knew Cardiff pizza was horrible, but Cardiff was home.

He's followed up with his own Cardiff when he could and things are no worse there than in New York. UNIT has taken over there and he suspects they've already did so here with Torchwood being defunct.

If things here are like that broken London, then travel between worlds here should be easy enough.

"It is, it rains except the mountain views are rather splendid," Ianto would admit to wanting to relocate to a city like that. It seems peaceful and without threatening aliens wanting to eat them.

Ianto hangs the phone up, he hands it back over to Jack and he goes to get his cup of coffee. He goes to take a sip of it, it's not bad. "Love is blind they say." Ianto still is coping with the death of Lisa and many of the members of Torchwood One, he's made a big stride but there are nights he finds himself waking up in a deep sweat from his own nightmares.

"I gave mine his new coat, I know yours gave you this one. It wasn't easy finding one in good shape for you. You felt naked without it," Ianto smiles, as he fixes the coat up on the hanger and he makes sure it is still in good shape and didn't become food for some hungry moths. "Captain Jack shouldn't be without his cape." He no longer helps Jack with his coat, he's left that job to his wife who's done a good job in his place. He does not dare add any information of her own curse.

Ianto slips back into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. He looks at Jack. "While we're there we will begin looking for that Rift to New York. I'd like to get there before winter sets in, it was rather cold and snowy during the last."

"Oh? Will I now?. I've heard it's some of the best there is." Ianto would know. No one would know better than him what he would like. Some times Jack wondered if the Welshman didn't know him better than even he knew himself. He busies himself in the kitchen pouring them each a fresh cup of coffee and setting them on the counter, while he wipes the the opposite counter. Tidying up because to be honest the place is a disaster.

"Might be worth looking into. Might make a nice home away from home. Close enough to Cardiff to keep me comfortable." He'll think about it. Might really be worth checking into. He could use a change of sorts, Cardiff has been home for nearly a century and a half. It probably wouldn't kill him to try someplace new.

He pockets the phone and offers a small smile "It would seem they're right. I'm sorry..for not understanding that before. And I wasn't him, but I was I'd be sorry too. I appreciate you being so understand where I really wasn't." There it is again the crack in his voice and the bit of composure he had a fleeting grasp of starts to dissolve. "He did. He said he had a hell of a time finding just the /right/ one. I really did..like I was missing something important."

Always taking care of him. The immortal should try harder to do these things himself. It just doesn't feel right. Watching this Ianto hang his coat feels right. The way the Welshman's hand sweeps over it so carefully to be sure it's straight and neat. The coat almost treated as though it was part of the captain. As though without it he'd be incomplete. Maybe in someways Jack Harkness isn't really anyone without his 'cape' as the Welshman so fondly calls it.

"Sure. We should best get back before the winter gets too bad." He nods and continues cleaning up the counters in the tiny kitchen. Then tosses the rag in the sink and picks up his coffee mug to take a drink. "When ever you're ready."

"Yes, you'll have to be careful with your addiction to trans-fats," Ianto teased, he knows Jack like a book. He laughs a little bit. "We do get a bit of travel between the other local areas, New Jersey is oddly active." Ianto takes the cup of coffee, there's a moment of truth he takes a drink of Jack's coffee. He's been so busy taking the job of the tea boy he never gave Jack's own coffee second thought. He takes a sip and he pauses. "It's not bad." He's being serious about this one. They've all considered Jack a possible nightmare in the kitchen himself included.

Ianto takes another drink of his coffee, it's a lot better than just being 'not bad'. "It's pretty good." He smirks, but the idea of home away from home. "That was Jack's reasoning, New York isn't too far from Cardiff and it had the space to create another HUB in." He still has bouts of homesickness during the times he would of spent time with his sister and the kids.

"Love is blind and it takes the blind to follow it," Ianto's voice becomes soft. He looks back over his shoulder to see Jack had watched him take care of his coat. He then looks back to stare at that old coat, sure the new one didn't have the decades worth of Jack's scent buried in to the fibers but it's still part of him. "Superman feels the same without his cape." He laughs a bit, he gets an odd image of Jack playing a role in a film for the Man of Steel. "Don't let Hollywood know that you exist, the dimple in your chin makes you perfect for a summer blockbuster."

Ianto tries to get the voice to stop from cracking, a sad Jack is horrible. "The good thing about those bloody cold New York winters is a shared bed." He has a bit of an Owen thing to pick-up on. "Oh, we had more snow than I'd like. There's Weevils in New York, crafty buggers this lot and we suspect they're coming from one of the Cardiffs. Bloody pain in the arse chasing them on ice."

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