This started out as my attempt to fill in the blanks between 1x07 and 1x08. I still find it unsettling how Ianto goes from inner monologues of anguish to making very forward sexual innuendo about stopwatches with nothing to bridge the gap. As for poor dear Tosh, well, she just needs more love. Thanks to misswinterhill for getting her red pen out for me, and to timetraveld for the hand-holding.

Ianto was gathering up the last of the litter and Tosh was closing down her systems when Jack's voice broke the almost silence of the Hub. In the process of picking up an empty crisp packet by Owen's chair, Ianto looked up when Jack called his name, caught off guard. He usually heard Jack or at least sensed his approach but trying not to let the pain come through had taken more of his attention than he realised, and Ianto felt like a rabbit caught in headlights.

Jack frowned.

"You should go home, Ianto."

"I like to keep busy."

They'd had the same conversation once and Jack had accepted it, but Jack's frown deepened and he walked to Ianto, closing the distance. Ianto resisted the urge to shrink back, the invasion of his personal space too much on top of the pain. He liked his space and he got it at the Hub, especially now that Gwen and Owen had each other and Tosh had retreated even further into herself. Until now, Jack had been giving them room to breathe. Jack was caught up, Ianto suspected, in his own business too much to keep his eyes on his team as watchful as he perhaps should.

What business exactly remained unknown and Ianto could only speculate. He'd talked about it with Tosh, once, a few days after Beacon Becans. Jack had issued three days enforced leave for everyone, and while they'd each gone to their respective homes, even Ianto going, reluctantly, to his shamefully neglected flat, they could only wonder where Jack would go and what he would do. Owen had made a tasteless joke about vampires and Ianto suddenly hoped Jack had somewhere that wasn't the Hub, wasn't Torchwood. Thinking about Jack being too alike the underground, cave dwelling like the monster Ianto hadn't not long ago accused him of being made Ianto feel an inexplicable sadness.

Jack's intense gaze lured Ianto from the safety of his own mind, and Jack reached out and placed his hands on Ianto's hips. It was far too intimate and Ianto did shrink back, or attempted to, but Jack held him in place, gently tracing the fabric of his suit. From her nest, Myfanwy's soft coos filtered through the lair as the last of Tosh's systems finished shutting down.

"Sir -"

Ianto tried to protest, to squirm, but Jack was solid and strong, no cracks in the foundations wide enough to break through.

"I've got a personal errand I need to take care of. Wanna come? You too, Tosh!"

Jack called over Ianto's shoulder and Ianto turned his head, glancing over at Tosh. She was collecting her coat and handbag and giving a poor show of pretending no one else was there. She looked up, startled.

"I was going to have a quiet night in," admitted Tosh, putting on her coat hastily.

"It's horrible out there," Ianto added, doing his best to ignore the fact that Jack's hands were still on him and that, somehow, the urge to lean closer because Jack felt so safe was increasing by the microsecond.

"It won't take long, and it's nothing strenuous," Jack insisted. "Come on."

Jack released Ianto and started for the lift. Ianto looked to Tosh, but she just shrugged, grabbed her bag, and obediently followed her captain. With less reluctance than he should have, Ianto followed too, only stopping to fetch his overcoat. It was drizzly out and unseasonably cold, but curiosity was overtaking reluctance and by the time the three of them were squashed together on the lift, Ianto just wanted to know why Jack had that slight sparkle in his eye which he got whenever he was proud of himself. Which was almost all the time, but tonight it was brighter, a little more pure and new like the first evening star.

They reached the Plass and Ianto shivered, feeling the cold instantly. He bundled his coat as tightly around himself as he could. Beside him, Tosh wasn't doing much better, her teeth chattering as she scowled at Jack.

"Why are we out in this, walking?" she grumbled, shoving her ungloved hands as deeply into her pockets as they could go.

"It's not far."

Ianto and Tosh nearly had to jog to keep up with Jack's strides, which were long and confident, full of purpose.

Jack led them out of the Plass and twenty minutes later Ianto was starting to regret following Jack so blindly. Tosh had perked up, commenting on the clear sky and how alive the streets felt and Jack smiled, pleased, but they were soon alone, just three, as Jack led them away from the action and into the quieter residential streets, away from the party-goers. The neighbourhood Jack had led them into was so quiet a pin dropping could be heard. Even the city traffic sounded far away. Most of the places here were residential homes for the elderly, which just added to the feeling of stillness.

"Jack, what -"

"Ssh. Keep it down, we're close. No sudden movements. Don't scare them."

Them?

Ianto and Tosh glanced at each other, Ianto's concern mirrored on Tosh's face as Jack slowed his step, treading carefully. They turned into an alley, one so narrow they had walk one behind the other. Just as Ianto thought the alley was going to turn out to be a never-ending labyrinth, Jack stopped suddenly enough that Tosh bumped into him, and Ianto into Tosh.

"Jack, what is this?" demanded Tosh. Ianto could see she wasn't amused as she stumbled through the alley, her high heels not the most pratical shoes she could have worn for Jack's magical mystery tour.

"In here. Quietly."

Jack easily opened the wooden gate they'd come to a halt in front of and swept through. Having come this far, Ianto continued to follow, offering a hand to Tosh as they ambled through the gate and into the dark garden.

"This is Martin Brown's house," Jack spoke in a hushed whisper as grass blades were gently crushed beneath his feet. "He's gone to Australia to visit family, and I don't trust anyone else to check on these guys while he's not here."

Tosh and Ianto followed Jack until they were standing still at the very bottom of the long stretch of back garden. They'd walked through the grass patch all the way to the flowerbed by the back wall. The flowerbed was populated mainly by lush green bushes, wild and real in their unkempt state. Jack knelt down before them and peered through the gaps in the greenery. Ianto wondered if Jack had finally, truly, lost his mind.

"Oh, there you are," Jack announced with a child-like awe, and Ianto didn't have to see the smile to know it was on Jack's face. Jack turned his head back to Ianto and Tosh. "Kneel down, take a look. Don't worry, it's safe. Just keep still and quiet. Don't want them frightened away…"

Ianto knelt down, too curious about what was going on, too concerned for Jack's sanity to worry about grass stains and muddy earth. Tosh was more hesitant, but one gesture from Jack and she was on her knees too, peering into the undergrowth.

Ianto wasn't sure if it were he or Tosh who gasped first. Jack stood back, moving to stand protectively behind them, a barrier against the world.

"What are they?" Tosh asked, entranced, mesmerised by the array of dancing lights in front of her.

"I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find an exact match, but they're very possibly Amberilines."

"They're like fireflies," said Ianto, just as enchanted as Tosh. Whatever they were, they were beautiful bursts of warm, bright light, electric with life, and Ianto would bask in their glow forever if he could. He'd never felt so alive and warmed by the mere presence of anything before, the energy the Amberilines giving off infectious like nothing he'd experienced. He watched them flutter in the air, safe behind the concealment of the bush and the dark backdrop of earth's night sky.

"They're beautiful," Tosh's smile was nearly as bright as the Amberilines' glow.

"Brown's going to be away for two months. I thought we could share the duty of checking these guys," said Jack. "I like them looked in on every night. Just to make sure they're okay. They don't need anything, but they seem to like visitors so long as they're friendly. See how they're bouncing around in the air like that? Seems to mean they're happy."

"Where do they come from?" asked Tosh, as Jack stepped closer to her and Ianto, until he was standing in between them.

"I don't know. Somewhere far away. Someplace they probably won't see again."

Ianto looked down. Jack had taken his hand as he'd spoken and was clutching it, almost too tightly as their fingers entwined seemingly of their own accord. When Ianto looked back up and into Jack's eyes, he felt like he was being swallowed by a whirlpool, falling and falling through ocean deep water, ice cold.

"They must get homesick," said Tosh, who edged closer to Jack until he took her hand too, giving it a squeeze.

"They survive." Jack's grip on Ianto's hand didn't loosen, and Ianto didn't want to meet his eyes again, having drowned once already tonight. "And there must be something about this little patch of our world they like, because they could fly off to anywhere on the planet. Somewhere warmer, somewhere they'd be alone...But they stay here."

"I can't think why," said Tosh, but there was wonder and sympathy in her voice where there might have been scorn.

"I guess it feels like home now," Jack said, not taking his eyes off the creatures as he spoke. "You stay somewhere for so long it gets harder to leave, even if once you'd have given everything to go."

"Can't be all bad, then."

Jack's eyes were still glued to the Amberilines as Ianto spoke, but Ianto still offered a small smile as their seductive dance of warmth and light hypnotised Jack, melting the ice that had encased Jack mere moments ago. Ianto gazed at the tiny little creatures, wondered how they didn't burn themselves out as they shone their light so brightly. They shimmered, their glow constant against the darkness.

"No," Jack murmured, speaking after such a long silence Ianto had almost forgotten what he was responding to. Jack turned away from the Amberilines, at last, and his gaze settled on Ianto, the ocean eyes calm again after the brief storm. He let go of Ianto's hand and caressed his cheek, then did the same to Tosh. They both leaned against Jack and let him hold them close.

They stayed there for a long time.

END