The idea is to make him feel as human as possible, Captain Harkness. With mild experimentation, I'm sure we could manage a practically-human experience. Normally, in such cases as this, there is the worry that the victim's body will reject the cybernised parts, but since we are building a completely new body, it's just the wiring of the brain we'll need to worry about – you have a technical expert on that, I presume? Good, good – now we're going to begin with the very basics. Build a titanium skeleton based on photographs and his height and ideal weight. This will then hold anatomically correct organs, muscles, eyes, tendons and also a cybernized 'nervous system' of wires that will take information around the 'body' and also carry information to the brain – including sensations, which is something very important to our cyborg customers and something we spend a great deal of time and money in developing – then, we will add the brain, allow him to test out his new body so that we know the areas to improve. Finally, we will add teeth, nails, hair and synthetic skin. He will have a totally anatomically correct cybernized body as close as possible to his original one, all totally replaceable and upgradable.

Jack listened to the woman spouting reassuring babble for about ten minutes. Basically, what she was saying was that Ianto would be human again, just a little bit more indestructible. Most importantly, though, is that he would be able to feel (and enjoy sex) again. His need to be warm was also being catered for, a whole extra little piece of technology hidden in his abdomen that would act as a thermostat and keep his new body warm. They were even giving him red plasma in false tubing and a beating heart to give the illusion of a circulatory system.

His voice wouldn't be the same, though. Button had spent two months trawling through absolutely every scrap of technology that had ever existed, it seemed, trying to find even the smallest sound bite for them to match to, but there was nothing. Ianto, in his shame of what he had become, had erased everything he could think to find. Even his answer phone. It had depressed the Captain – that one flaw in the almost perfect outcome – but he would hide it from Ianto. He had cried into Diana's arms, but would never let Ianto see his anguish at losing that voice all over again. The Captain still heard it in his dreams, so that had to be enough for now.

Lennie had got most of Ianto's Archiver body working again – enough for him to move his arms and hold himself upright, but his legs were shot and he'd need new ones. He'd refused to have them replaced just yet, until he heard the decision as to whether he qualified as a cyborg or not. When Jack entered the room, his face solemn and eyes sad, Ianto felt his internal circuits heat in sadness. Not enough of him was human, he thought. Then again ... it wasn't that much of a blow. He hadn't been human since Gwen Cooper had ripped his brain from his body.

Jack's face changed so fast Ianto's cybernised eyes nearly missed it. Suddenly it was there, that victorious Harkness grin, and some form of relief came to him.

"I. Qualify?"

"More than that!" Jack beamed, hugging him even though it made no difference. Ianto couldn't feel him. "They've already started laying down plans for your new body!"

"Oh. Good. Do. The. Plans. Sound. Suitable?"

"More than suitable! Fan-bloody-tastic! I mean ... really ... the wonders of technology! You're gonna be made out of titanium!"

"Wonderful. You. Will. Be. Able. To. See. Your. Reflection. In. My. Chest."

"Nawwwwwwww silly! You're getting skin! And eyes that move! They say you can pick your own out once they get you in the skeleton and stick some basic movement muscles on ya. Oo! and they're giving you a fake cardiovascular system so you will have a heartbeat and red plasma flowing! And a thermostat."

"I. Will. Be. Warm?"

"You'll be boiling!"

"How. Will. I. Feel."

"They're going to wire up a nervous system to stimulate certain parts of your brain to feel what you're supposed to be feeling when parts of the system are touched, change temperature, get blocked - pins and needles, Ianto! You'll get pins and needles!"

"Joy." said Ianto.

~*~*~*~

Three months later, and Ianto had been installed in his new skeleton for two weeks. So far they had managed to properly connect the muscles and tendons on most of the left side of his body. He had a new voicebox, but it was temporary until they found one Ianto liked – and it also didn't require vocal chords, a set of which he couldn't have built yet.

Jack loved Ianto's titanium skeleton. It provided him with endless fascination, as well as an interesting "house of mirrors" distraction. Then there were the eyes. The eyes were just two red lights, and Jack couldn't resist poking a little fun at them.

"Whaddup, Terminator?" he asked jovially, sitting down on the stool next to Ianto's bed and watching the technician carefully solder cyber-muscle to Ianto's arm.

"I'm fine." said Ianto, his speech up to normal speed and far more human-sounding. Not Ianto-sounding, but human at least. "Could you help me look through that brochure? I need to pick some eyes ..."

The technician sniggered at Jack and Ianto's banter as they picked out eyes. Many comments like "Aye aye, Captain!" were cheesily exchanged, and Jack helped mainly by holding the brochure and turning the pages as the only usable arm Ianto had was being prodded by the technician. Eventually they came to the end of the brochure and Ianto hadn't settled on any eyes he liked.

"You look." he told Jack. "Pick a pair for me that you like – not the red ones! No ... not the lizard or Gozilla ones either. I can't have a milky eye, Jack. It won't go with my look. Stop calling me Terminator!"

Jack laughed and kissed his shiny Terminator head. He hesitated slightly. The nervous system wasn't complete yet, but Jack could see the tiny wires over Ianto's head now that he was close. "Did you feel that, Ianto?" he asked.

The technician answered for him. "Only his left arm is currently wired up. I've got a couple more muscles to add on to his fingers ... but he'll be able to feel you hold his hand afterwards."

Jack waited seven hours for the technician to finish – she even put a temporary synthetic skin-glove over the muscles so that it would feel more human. She left them alone with a smile and a nod.

"You ready for this?" Jack asked, taking the seat where the technician had been working. Experimentally, Ianto flexed his new fingers, then touched the titanium metal that made up his femur.

"Cold." he said. Jack reached over and moved his head to face him slightly – he had no neck muscles so was constantly left staring straight ahead. But really, no point in being there if Ianto couldn't see him.

"My hand's warm." said Jack, smiling, offering it out.

Ianto flexed his arm, getting used to how it moved a little. He curled his fingers, flexed them out, then tentatively brushed them over Jack's palm. "You are warm." he said, barely audibly. He grabbed Jack's hand squeezing tight, and Jack responded by lifting it to his mouth and kissing it over and over again, letting his tears fall onto it and even nipping at the muscle with his teeth.

"Ow!" said Ianto. "That hurt!" he added, sounding delighted. "I wish I could cry ..."

Jack raised his tear stained face. "Soon you will." he sniffed. "And we can cry together."

"Soppy bastard." said Ianto, but tightened his grip anyway.

~*~*~*~

Another three months, and Ianto had enough parts for the scientists to chance starting up his dummy cardiovascular system. Someone on the way had decided to give him lungs as well. They weren't hooked up to anything or imperative for survival, they just let him feel like he was breathing. His first few deep breaths seemed to struggle, but as his brain got used to the automatic movement it became natural and easy for him. He never stopped breathing.

"Y'know ... when the lungs started working ... it was like part of my brain relaxed. Something was put right again. Like it wasn't suffocating anymore ... d'you think when they get the heart hooked up, it'll be like that again? Two automatic survival signals finally being sent somewhere?" he asked Jack one day. Jack was wheeling him around outside in a wheel chair. He was completed from the collar bone to the groin (apart from his crown jewels) and both his arms were working, but the muscles on his legs weren't going to be added until all the major bits were done. At the moment, Jack was strolling him along a cliff, stopping and turning him so they could look out to sea.

"I think so." was all Jack knew to say. The last six months had been emotional – transferring Ianto's' life-support had been the worst, the brain effectively dying at least three times before it managed to sustain itself in the titanium skull's system. They'd had a couple of scares the last two months with wiring up all the rest of the circuits and functions contained in Ianto's chest, but nothing so serious Jack had a panic attack like the first time.

"I can feel the wind, Jack." smiled Ianto. "On my chest and arms. I can feel it."

"I can't wait until they let you out of the hospital suite."

"They are finicky aren't they?"

"I want to sleep with you in my bed again."

It had been strange talking to the skeleton at first, but Jack's affection didn't waver. As the transformation progressed, and the fake circulatory system was installed and arteries and veins were webbed all over him, he started to look like a corpse decaying backwards. Jack got used to it, and moved on. It was still Ianto, even if the only emotions he could convey at the moment were through his voicebox.

"Go to Button." said Ianto.

"I broke off with him. I told you. Besides, he's with Lennie now."

"I know. But he's still mooning over you. And he's got a nice warm body."

"Hmmm. Warm bodies are overrated. I've got a fetish for bright, shiny titanium at the moment." Jack winked.

Ianto heaved in a breath of air, simply because he could. "Can't wait to smell again. And taste! I know I can't eat ... but putting things on my tongue and tasting them ... and I know you're smirking, and you can stop thinking thoughts like that. It's not happening."

"Heyyyy. You said I was your favourite lollipop!"

"Never did!"

"Did too!"

"Okay. Maybe once."

Jack was satisfied with the confession, and looked back out across the sea. It was bluer than he remembered – probably full of dye to hide the sickening amount of rubbish in it.

"You ... really remember me, don't you Jack?" Ianto asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"You're not just ... pretending you do?"

"The first time we met, you were wearing a black close-fitting jacket, tight jeans and a studded belt. You were bleeding from your left temple and introduced yourself as 'Jones, Ianto Jones'. You beat off a Weevil."

"Yeah ... I remember that, too ..."

"Things ... get murky, don't they?"

"Oh yeah. Murky as hell! I'm terrified about thinking of all the friends I've known and the people I've worked with in case ... well, in case I can't remember them all."

"Do you remember Torchwood?"

"I remember Toshiko and Owen. Myfanwy. Susan?"

"Suzie."

"Yeah. Suzie ..."

They were quiet for a while, watching the waves. The only people who passed were a family of blue slugs, the Daddy slug being about six feet long and wearing a trilby.

"We'll have to go back inside now." said Jack eventually, getting up and taking the handles of the wheelchair. "S'getting dark and I don't want to wheel you into a rock and tip you over the cliff."

"Great. The Deaths of Ianto Jones: Space AIDS then Cliffed. We could write a play about it."

~*~*~*~

The day Ianto had his tongue connected, Jack bought every single flavour and variation of chocolate he could find. He spent hours putting it on Ianto's tongue, listening to his squeal of delight every time the flavours registered in his brain. He couldn't remember the names of most of them and had to be reacquainted with flavours he didn't like, but the fact that he could taste anything at all was sending him giddy – that and the knowledge his new eyes would be coming tomorrow, and his vision would be much improved from the basic cybernetic ones he'd been forced to grow used to.

Jack wouldn't be allowed to see Ianto during the months his facial muscles were being completed, so he was spending every second he could with him until then. It was on Ianto's request that he stayed away, not wanting him to be 'creeped out' by the half-titanium half-flesh head that would be him for three months. He was also fed up of the Terminator jokes.

Despite the process of building a new Ianto being painfully slow, Ianto didn't seem too put out. He was patient, to say the least, sitting still for hours and hours while technicians poked and prodded and soldered and tested and altered and removed and upgraded amongst countless other things. Jack, however, was a constant nag. The technicians and experts had banished him on several occasions, but in usual Harkness style he would manage to charm his way back into the suite and resume telling everyone to hurry up. He did it partly because he was impatient for Ianto to start feeling like his old self – and partly because it made Ianto laugh.

The last day they spent together before Jack had promised to stay away, Ianto froze in the middle of the conversation and went so still the Captain panicked that he might have crashed.

"Ianto? Ianto ... can you hear me?"

"The mobile phone!" he shouted suddenly, moving the covers from his hospital bed as if to get up, then remembering he didn't have any muscle to move his legs with. He groaned. "Jack ... I've thought of something ... I kept my mobile phone. From ... from when I was alive!"

"You are alive." murmured Jack.

"Well ... yeah ... but I'm not totally living yet am I? Anyway ... I kept it ... I dunno why ... I liked the pictures ... I hid it in the Archives! The battery will be dead, but we'll be able to get some info off it, won't we?"

"Tell me where it is, and I'll see if Lennie can do anything ..."

It took Jack three hours to find it – the Archives had been remodelled since Ianto had hidden the phone so its location was a little vague. Lennie had stared at it for a good ten minutes, before declaring she would only get the information off it if Jack let her sell it to a museum. Jack told her where to shove it, but she sulkily set to work on getting the battery going anyway.

Jack lounged on the sofa as she worked, chatting to Button.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Jack. Honestly. Just ... not getting much sleep." he winked.

Jack smirked. "You and Lennie till going strong then?"

"Yep. Stronger than ever."

"Good. I ... heard you got promoted?"

"Yeah. Head of something. Can't remember what. Sounds made up to me."

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Ianto made it up. Still, you get clearance two and a snazzy black tie. And the pay cheque to go with it."

"Yeah. Still ... nothing near what Saint Lennie's earning. I can't believe ... why did he make her head of Torchwood?"

Shrugging, Jack stood. "She took care of him. Showed him kindness. Chatted to him, even though he was supposedly nothing more than a lowly Archive droid. And she threw up the most when she realised his brain was in there." Button smiled, his eyes drifting dreamily over to Lennie.

Jack went over to her workstation, leaning over her shoulder. The phone was connected and she was rifling through the files on her computer.

"Stupid bloody Ianto." she huffed. "Everything we could have needed to find him is on this bloody phone, and it was hidden right under our noses the entire bloody time!"

Jack sniggered. "We found him, and that's what's important."

She gave him a pointed look.

"Um ... ma'am."

"Too right. Anyways ... ooo! Photographs!"

They flicked through the photos for a while, Jack pointing out the people and places he recognised. "That's Torchwood as it was in our day ... and that's the Cute Suit. My favourite. And that was Myfanwy, our pet pterodactyl. Gwen! Toshiko! Owen! Ohhhh that's his sister, Rhiannon. That was her husband ... can't remember his name ... Martha! Oh my God! Martha! And ... WOAHHHHHH. I know you can't see his face .... but that's definitely Ianto ..."

Lennie sniggered into the back of her hand, tears already building up in her eyes. "H-hey ... Button!" she gasped through fits. Jack wasn't holding up much better, biting his sleeve in an attempt not to collapse into giggles. Button came over, saw the picture and his eyes widened. An eyebrow rose.

"That's Ianto?"

"Y-y-yes!" managed Jack.

"Bloody hell. Wasn't he a big boy!"

Lennie moved the picture onwards. "Y'know ... if you give that picture to the techies, I bet they could get him all ... y'know ... the same down there ..."

"I'll talk to him about it. Come to think of it ... I think I can remember taking that picture ..."

Button snorted, then his expression changed to a sudden look of realisation. "Could phones take videos back then?"

"Er ... yeah. I think so."

"Well ... d'ya think he might have done the standard 'taking the phone around the house while giving a running commentary of all the people around' video?"

"Possibly ... why?"

"... it'll have his voice on it, numbskull."

~*~*~*~

Jack ran all the way down to the labs where everything that was going to make up Ianto's body was being made. They were working on the tiny muscles that would move his eyes around, as well as building tendons for his neck. Bits of throat and fake flesh to line the mouth were progressively nearing completion, too, but Jack knew exactly who he needed to see.

The young lad who was working on Ianto's genitalia spent most of the day bright red, furiously blushing his way through the task at hand. Jack shoved the blown up print out under his nose, watched him turn even redder, then informed him that the picture was the subject who the parts were for, and could he make them identical to that please?

Next he had to wait to speak to the Head Technician. Now that he had a sound file of Ianto's voice, they could feed the information into a droid and have a pair of vocal chords made the mimic the sound.

"Oh, and Captain Harkness?" the Head Technician called after him as he turned to leave. "The eyes arrived this morning. Would you like to look?"

The Technician – Jack really needed to learn his name – produced a large cube-shaped box. He removed the lid, and two eye balls with wires hanging out of the back like optic nerves stared back at them. Jack lifted one out carefully, wearing latex gloves, and inspected the iris.

Jack had paid for these himself, and they had cost a fortune – something Jack appreciated now that he had to earn his own money (Fortunately, Ianto having access to every single scrap of Torchwood significantly helped his pay cheque). The iris was made of tiny sapphires, around which flowed a tiny amount of mercury and peppered with black diamonds to give depth. The eye twinkled at him mischievously, the smooth top coat making it look moist and natural. Jack grinned at the Technician. "Perfect."

~*~*~*

Three months turned into four, and then four into five. Jack had gotten fed up of being good. He decided that he would stop short of shooting people to get to see Ianto sometime soon.

Both Lennie and Button had been allowed to see him, but Ianto made it clear he didn't want Jack anywhere near him until his head had been completed. Button had sneaked a few photographs, so Jack had an idea of how things were coming together, but he missed his conversation the most.

So, full of beans, Jack decided to make his way down to Ianto's hospital suite and blunder his way in. He was stopped halfway there, however, just to be told that the muscles and organs of Ianto's lower half were to begin connection tomorrow, and the facial muscles were not only complete, but a temporary synthetic skin had been placed over to give Ianto an idea of what he'd eventually look like. He had his new eyes in, too.

The Captain didn't need telling twice, and bolted down to Ianto's room. He loitered in the doorway, smiling as he saw Ianto pushing half of a grape in to his mouth.

"Whaddup, Bankrobber?" Jack called. Ianto looked over and scowled at him and took the grape he had been tasting out of his mouth.

"I know my head looks like it's wearing a pair of tights, but it's better than noth – what?"

"Your voice ... they got it ... they got it right ..."

"Oh ... yeah!" Ianto grinned. "I'm kind of over that now. Forgot you didn't know."

Jack sat down in his usual stool. "You look like a scarecrow." he said.

"I know. Small children cry when they see me. I'm not allowed outside until they get my skin on, and they're not doing that until I've got absolutely everything else finished. Not long now, though. A month, maybe. Then I can have body hair again."

"You do look daft without eyebrows. Can I have a grape?"

Ianto offered him the stalk.

"Ianto?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I'm not allowed to get moisture near my teeth yet. The glue's still setting and they'll drop out."

"You had a grape in there."

"Grapes don't drool all over the place."

"Shurrup." smiled Jack, ruffling his head where the hair was going to be. "Heyyy ... you can feel that now!"

"Yep."

Jack kissed his head. "Let me see your eyes."

Ianto obediently raised his head so that Jack could inspect him. "Perfect. You're just perfect!"

"Ohhh stop it." Ianto couldn't help but smile.

"I can't ... I'm too happy!"

"You're happier than I am, I'd bet."

"Ha! Probably!"

"Especially since you gave them a picture of my erect penis to model my new one from."

"Yeah ... sorry about that. I thought you might appreciate it though ..."

"That was the whole point of you finding the phone." mumbled Ianto. "I forgot about the video."

"They could have made a replica of your penis from the video too." winked Jack, giggling a little as he remembered Lennie's face when she realised what the video was depicting.

Ianto yawned wide, looking a little surprised with himself. "Didn't know I could do that!"he chirruped.

Jack yawned in response. "Just as contagious." he said. "Gaaahhhh! I want you to be finished so we can get away from here!"

"I've spent nearly a year in these four walls ... and you're the one who's impatient to leave?"

Jack gave him a sheepish smile. "I was thinking ... when this is all done ... you, me ... a ship. We could go travelling. See the universe."

"Where would we go?"

"Anywhere!"

"We'll be space gypsies?"

"Tourists."

"You want to go ... with me?"

"Yes with you!"

"Oh ... okay then. We'll see how things go ... how much it'll cost ..."

"Screw the cost! All money's electronic these days ... you could just make up a few numbers and we'll be zillionaires."

"That's fraud."

"Only if they guy in charge doesn't know."

"What happened to your moral compass this last millennia? It's like you never had one!"

"Ianto Jones! Are you suggesting my needle is dysfunctional?"

Ianto smiled and shook his head. "Woe to me. The King of Innuendo is back ..."

~*~*~*~

Jack was in a department store, picking out an off-the-shelf suit for Ianto to wear while they went shopping properly. He had no clothes – he hadn't really had a body to hide behind them – so Jack had volunteered to wander into the city and find something wearable. Fashion had changed a lot over the last thousand years, but as always, it wasn't difficult to find a simple grey suit, white shirt and red tie. Jack picked out some plain silver cufflinks and leather belt with a pewter buckle, too. Just simple things that Ianto could wear on his first day topside in over half a year.

Today, he would be complete. They were just adding finishing touches now – moles on the skin, a sprinkle of freckles across the nose; the tiniest blush in pale Welsh skin. Each hair had been individually inserted into his body, from his head to his eyebrows to the bottom of his legs. His chest was wonderfully fuzzy again, and Jack had had to tell him to stop pulling at it when he'd caught him doing so for the fifth time. He was little worried that Ianto kept doing things to himself that purposefully hurt, but decided not to mention anything until he was fully functional and living with Jack, as they had arranged. Ianto would remain at Torchwood for six months while he was monitored: then he and Jack were free to do whatever they pleased.

Jack approached the reception area of Torchwood Three, boxes and bags in hand, and smiled cheerfully at Josh behind the desk. He greeted his colleagues with 'Good Mornings!' and paused to give Diana a wave and hold up his bags to show her where he'd been. Then, he was off and away down to Ianto's room, ready to show him his new clothes.

"I keep forgetting I can walk." mused Ianto, smiling with his newly-painted lips. They'd had a gloss put over them to make them seem constantly moist, and now that he was complete and his thermostat was working, they were warm too. "I spent about an hour in bed this morning desperate to go outside before remembering I can actually walk out of here myself."

"You went outside without me?"

"I got halfway to the doors and changed my mind." he said, shrugging on his new shirt. He batted away Jack's hands trying to do the buttons up for him, wanting to show off the dexterity of his new fingers. "Love the cut of the shirt, Jack." he said appreciatively. Jack beamed, handing him his trousers.

"I hate helping people get dressed. It's particularly depressing."

Ianto smiled and fastened the buttons on his trousers, reaching for his tie. He ran it through his fingers, feeling the cool silk. He turned to look at himself in a mirror. "I look exactly like me. A bit younger ... but ... I mean ... I'm just grateful to look human ... but ... people will think I am human ..."

Jack put his arms around him from behind, relishing the contact. Ianto didn't really let Jack near him so often. Tentatively, Jack lowered his lips to his neck, brushing the now warm skin with a hint of moisture. He smiled as he saw the Adam's apple move when Ianto let out a soft moan, and Jack took that as a hint to continue. He pressed his lips gently to the sensitive skin, pressing the network of cyber-nerves underneath and knowing that Ianto could feel the contact.

Ianto elbowed him gently, looping his tie around his head. "More on that later." he said, smiling a little and carefully weaving the tie. He paused for a second, back-tracked, then undid the whole thing and started again. Growling in frustration, he tossed the length of silk aside. "I don't want to wear a tie. I've changed my mind." he said huffily.

Jack moved and picked up the tie, turning Ianto to face him and forcing him to be still. "It's been a while since you've done this, huh?" he asked gently, pulling the ends of the tie to the right length. Ianto nodded and sniffed, and Jack very soon got the confirmation that Ianto's tear-ducts were working. They were part of an aqua system that worked around Ianto's head, providing moisture in his mouth and tears if they were needed. It needed topping up every now and then, but otherwise it made Ianto feel more like a human being.

Weaving the knot slowly so that Ianto could see and remember it, Jack carefully tied up the tie the way Button had shown him especially for this moment. Jack had had a feeling the knowledge would come in useful. "There we go!" he admired, turning Ianto to look at himself.

"Thanks." he sniffed.

Jack dabbed away his tears with a tissue. "Careful ... don't want to have to top up your water supply already, do we?"

Shrugging on his jacket, Ianto made sure his arm went through his sleeve quite too fast and collided neatly with Jack's cheek. He chuckled, buttoned up and pulled the door open, ready for his first walk outside.

~*~*~*~

It had been a busy day, and Jack was tired. Ianto had been to about twenty different tailors before finding one he liked, and then spent about three hours picking out designs and colours being measured up. They went to eat at a little bistro, and while Jack wolfed down the food, Ianto settled for just popping things into his mouth and tasting them. There was a tray inside him that would catch any food he did choose to swallow, but he didn't feel confident enough within himself to be able to open up his chest every night, take it out, clean it and put it back.

Jack had hesitated a little before holding his hand as they walked down the street, but before long he had his arm around Ianto's shoulders and Ianto's arm clinging to his waist. Ianto bought about seven pairs of new shoes and also some red plimsolls. Jack had given them an incredulous look, but it was soon wiped away when Ianto explained. "My wife ... Rosemary ... she looked at a couple of pictures of the old days ... she said I should have worn plimsolls ... apparently, I have strong, manly ankles."

Smiling, Jack squeezed his hand. He understood.

Throughout the day, only one person recognised that Ianto was in anyway cybernised, and that was the tailor who had been close enough to hear the tiny mechanic whine of his muscles working. Even so, he hadn't clocked that it wasn't only his arms that were cybernised, and commented on how realistic his hands looked and moved, and also mentioned how well they'd managed to get the skin colour to match his natural tone.

Ianto was pleased.

When they returned to Jack's room, where both Jack and Ianto were going to be living for the next six months, they collapsed at opposite ends of the sofa and threw their heads back in exhaustion. Finally, Jack sidled closer to him, and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Wanna cuddle on the bed for a bit?" he asked.

"Are you sure?"

Jack felt a little taken aback. "Y'know ... the fact you're a cyborg ... I don't actually give a shit. I'd have asked you to come and cuddle if you were still the big scary Archiver."

"Oh." was all Ianto could say. "Let's go to bed then."

They held each other, lying down on the bed, until Jack was so hungry his stomach was rumbling so loud it disturbed the conversation. He ordered food to be brought to the room, and sat on the floor as he ate it. Ianto was allowed to taste as much of it as he wanted, and also tried a sip of coffee but had to spit it away in disgust. Far too burnt.

When he had finished, Jack pushed the plate aside and cuddled up to Ianto again. He nuzzled his neck, and felt his stiffen in anticipation. "Can I kiss you?" Ianto asked.

"You don't even need to ask." smiled Jack.

Ianto reached out, his fingertips brushing hair out of the Captain's eyes and gently caressing his cheekbone. He moved forward, placed a hand on a shoulder, and pulled Jack towards him as their lips met for the first time in over a thousand years.

Jack felt a million explosions of joy charging through his body, eagerly allowing Ianto's coffee-flavoured tongue into his mouth and stroking it with his own. He tried to control his hands, but they soon found themselves squeezing Ianto's arse as he pressed their hips together. Jack broke away, smiling. He gave a pointed look southwards. "Everything's working, then?"

Ianto gave him that wicked smile. "Better than I could ever have hoped."