Author Notes:

-Rated MA for language and gay SEX. Eventually. Not all chapters and not for awhile. But eventually. Just so you know.

-On that note, this story will feature a SLASH pairing, so do not read if you do not like.

-Torchwood is not mine. I just love the characters and feel the need to play in the proverbial sandbox.

-The missing bits, that's what I intend to cover here. The stuff that could bridge the gaps between episodes (and occasionally missing scenes from within the episode(s)). I feel like we missed a lot of Jack and Ianto developments because they occurred "offscreen" so this is my solution.

-I am trying my hardest to write these characters true to what we see onscreen. If you feel I'm doing a good or bad job let me know! Also let me know if I'm using the wrong words or emphasis! I am American, so writing for a show/characters that live outside my area of expertise is difficult so any hints or advice would be appreciated. :)

-THANK YOU! I hope you enjoy! I'll do my best to update as regularly as I can. I have the next several written out in draft form, just need to get them to a finished point! Reviews and feedback help in that regard! :D

Ianto placed the glove and the knife into the metal box, feeling the eyes of the others watching. Securing the lock on the box, he moved to the safe and slid it into the narrow opening.

Ianto turned to Jack, his eyes moving quickly from Jack's blank expression to Gwen and back again. Gwen had already been retconned once. Ianto wondered if Jack would do it again. He sensed not.

Movement from the doorway caught Ianto's attention and he turned in time to see both Tosh and Owen place artifacts onto Jack's desk. Ianto recognized them both; the translating/transcribing device Tosh returned had been acquired by Torchwood on Ianto's third day. Ianto distinctly remembered cataloging it and placing it in the archives. Tosh must've been desperate to get her hands on it if she'd gone down there to retrieve it.

The spray Owen pilfered had been recovered about a month prior. The alien they'd taken it from had come through the rift already dead and clutching the bottle in its cold, three-fingered hand. Only after Ianto was accidentally sprayed while trying to disentangle the bottle from the alien grip did the team discover its effects. No sooner had the mist settled on Ianto than he found himself bombarded with attention. The whole team had come on to him in one way or another. Jack had grown a bit aggressive, chasing Ianto through the Hub until he finally had to lock Jack in the vaults until the effects wore off.

Ianto handled the entire situation with his trademark calm. The flirtation from everyone but Jack was mostly innocent in nature due to the small amount of spray that actually permeated Ianto's skin. Everyone had been suitably embarrassed when they'd recovered their senses, everyone except Jack. He'd made no apologies, and even acted a little affronted that Ianto had locked him up instead of taking advantage of his attentions.

Ianto kept his eyes on Jack as Owen and Tosh handed over the alien property, property that was supposed to stay in the Hub, secure in the archives. Ianto flinched as Jack's cold eyes suddenly turned to him, the unasked question clear in his expression. Ianto simply shook his head. He had no need to take pieces of alien tech home with him; he was using and abusing his position at Torchwood from within.

All that protected Ianto from the overwhelming guilt of what he was doing was the hope of healing Lisa and restoring their love. In the short time he'd been in Cardiff and at Torchwood Three, he'd grown to genuinely care for his fellow team-members as if they were family; even if they ignored him most of the time. A small part of Ianto liked not being noticed. It made his deception easier when his movements around the Hub weren't questioned. It was lonely, though. He wasn't invited out for a pint, no one asked how his weekend was. There was a camaraderie between them all that Ianto hadn't been invited into yet. Maybe because he was still the "new guy"; Ianto didn't know. He wasn't sure he cared either. It seemed to him that life without Lisa wasn't worth living, so when he wasn't sleeping he spent his time either working or with her. Still he relied on the presence of the team to keep him grounded. He relied on Owen's razor sharp snark and Tosh's gentle, reaffirming smile. He relied on Jack's leadership and take charge demeanor; and he had relied on Suzie's quick wit. Ianto's eyes moved once more to Gwen, curious. She was watching Jack with eyes so wide Ianto wondered how they didn't fall out of her head.

"This can't happen again," Jack said coldly as his eyes moved over them all.

"You; any of you, take anything from here again without my knowledge and permission, the next time you wake you won't remember anything after your first day of primary school."

Ianto felt a rush of heat flame up his neck as an image of Lisa lying in the basement of the Hub, a half-converted cyberman, flashed before his eyes.

Jack gathered up the items and placed them roughly into the safe, slamming the iron door closed and spinning the dial.

"Ianto, I'll take care of those later," Jack said stiffly as Ianto nodded in acknowledgement, preoccupied with his guilt. He wondered how long he could keep Lisa a secret. The wrath of Jack was something Ianto did not want to acquaint himself with anytime soon yet he feared his window of opportunity was getting shorter. He made a silent vow to be more proactive in seeking out help for Lisa.

"Gwen, with me," Jack called as he strode out of his office, greatcoat in hand. Gwen stood awkwardly for a moment, looking at Ianto and the others before offering an apologetic smile and rushing to follow Jack out the rolling cog door.

"Fuck," Owen snarled under his breath as he turned and moved to his station. Tosh followed him silently and Ianto noticed she looked crestfallen.

"Coffee?" Ianto inquired, trailing them and pausing between the two desks. Even though the hour was late and caffeine would only wind them all up it was all he could think to do. It was all he was really expected to do.

"No," Tosh said quietly, looking the part of a chastised child as she shrugged on her jacket, "See you tomorrow."

Ianto looked to Owen and he just shook his head, frowning as he stretched a rubber band in his hands. Ianto retreated to the archives, leaving Owen to do what he would.

Standing in the doorway of the archives Ianto wondered what would happen next. Would Jack return and inform them he'd recruited Gwen to take Suzie's place? Or would he return to a team of only three, having slipped Gwen another retcon pill? Ianto wasn't sure which scenario he hoped for. Having a body to replace the loss of Suzie would help the team, but for Ianto it meant learning new work patterns, memorizing a new schedule, making friends; and he'd have to learn her coffee order. It was a simple thing but for some reason it was also the thing Ianto dreaded most.

Ianto sighed heavily and walked slowly into the darkened room, triggering the motion sensors. Harsh fluorescent lights started flickering to life along the main walkway, their buzz filling the air.

Judging by the way Gwen and Jack had looked at one another Ianto felt certain when he next saw Jack he'd be instructed to set Gwen up in the Hub. Ianto stopped as he saw a stack of files that had been pulled out of place and left unceremoniously piled on the floor. A feeling that could be anger or maybe jealousy suddenly hit Ianto as he put the files back in their proper place, cursing Jack under his breath. Ianto knew Jack had left the mess; Ianto had seen Tosh clear up after herself, and Owen never came down to the archives. Jack never put things back where he got them. Jack always left his messes for Ianto to clear up.

Did he do it to get Ianto's attention? Sometimes he must, but mostly Ianto just thought Jack was too used to being taken care of. Unless it was tracking down aliens with guns and cars, Jack couldn't be bothered. He had lost count after his first week of how many incident reports he'd had to take back to Jack to be more thoroughly filled out. Jack was never angry though. In fact, he always smiled and asked Ianto to sit while he would quickly scribble a few lines, or add his missing signature.

Ianto wasn't an idiot, and he knew full well that Jack enjoyed flirting with him and making lewd comments and suggestions. Almost daily he would say something about Ianto's clothing, or his hair, or his cologne. Ianto took it in stride, because he'd come to realize that was just Jack being Jack, and Jack flirted with everyone, even Owen on occasion. Ianto did notice that the frequency of comments made to Tosh and Owen paled in comparison to the frequency of comments made Ianto's way. Maybe it was because he was still the "new kid" and like a child with a new toy he got the most attention. Or maybe Jack, who seemed to fall outside of any sexual label Ianto could think of, was genuinely attracted to him. In either case, Ianto realized quickly that he enjoyed having Jack's attention and the addition of Gwen would remove Ianto from his place; Gwen would be the new toy. Ianto felt jealous anger rise in him again as he resumed his long walk down the center aisle of the archives headed towards the far end where he'd set several rat traps.

"Stupid fuck," Ianto whispered as he checked the traps.

Ianto was very much a creature of habit, and with certain change on the horizon he found his emotions running high. Channeled the frustration and anger and sadness and blocking out the strange noises that permeated the Hub at night, Ianto set to work, his only escape from his own mad world.

No matter what he did though, he couldn't control the one emotion he wasn't used to; the green-eyed monster refused to back down.

A few hours later, near midnight, Ianto began to make his way home for a few hours of what he knew would be restless sleep before he came back again. He'd checked Lisa, and she was still in supported stasis, kept alive by the jury-rigged conversion unit. He'd sat by her side for awhile as he told her about his day, and about Gwen. It was cathartic. He felt free to tell Lisa everything; though he wasn't oblivious to the fact that he kept Jack's flirtations to himself. He thought Lisa might find it funny, were she awake to understand. He could only bring her to consciousness for a few hours a day, and he didn't want to spend those hours gossiping about his boss. So Ianto kept silent about Jack, and instead while she was awake he told her about Torchwood Cardiff and all its fantastical, rift-related elements and activities.

Walking up the stairs next to the water sculpture to get his overcoat, Ianto started at the sound of Jacks voice.

"Working late?" Jack asked as he leaned casually against the doorframe of his office, hands in his trouser pockets. The blind anger that Jack had shown earlier was now gone, replaced by a teasing smirk. He had taken off his blue button down shirt and was wearing only a plain white tee, though it was still tucked in. Dark blue braces were hanging at his sides.

Ianto had realized after two days at Torchwood that Jack lived in the Hub. It hadn't come up in his research, and he always wondered where Jack laid his head at night. It had never occurred to him that Jack slept in the Hub. It had thrown a wrench into Ianto's plans to get Lisa settled into the basement, but all it had taken was one long day of the team out chasing a gang of Weevils for Ianto to temporarily deactivate the CCTV and get Lisa installed. He then manipulated the angles of the basement cameras just enough so if Ianto hugged the walls he could get to Lisa's chamber unseen. No one had noticed the changes yet and Ianto didn't think they ever would.

"Headed home now, sir," Ianto said as he slid his jacket on, avoiding the stare of the other man.

"Before you go," Jack stepped out of the doorway and moved to the tattered sofa, perching on the arm with one leg up on the cushion, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knee. Ianto watched the white fabric of his t-shirt stretch to accommodate Jack's wide shoulders. Ianto quickly shifted his eyes to Jack's face, finding that a bit less distracting.

"I've asked Gwen to join Torchwood," Jack said, his eyes holding gaze with Ianto.

"I'll make sure she has complete server access," Ianto replied, not at all surprised by Jack's announcement.

"She's not starting for a few days," Jack added, "has to take care of things with the police. So no rush, but soon as you can."

Jack stood then, putting his hands back in his pockets.

"Of course, sir," Ianto smiled stiffly.

"I may need help convincing Owen and Tosh," Jack looked over at the two darkened workstations.

"I'll do what I can to help, sir," Ianto said, knowing nothing he could say could persuade an opinion of Owen's.

"Great," Jack nodded, still watching Ianto closely.

"I'll see you in the morning, sir," Ianto turned then, and feeling Jack's eyes still on him, left the Hub.

Owen's voice was rising in pitch and Ianto could only assume that Jack had just told him about Gwen joining the team.

Ianto flashed back to his first day at Torchwood Three. Tosh and Suzie had been very welcoming, showing him around and presenting him with a small bouquet of flowers which Ianto left on the counter in the Tourism Office. They lived for nearly three weeks before Ianto had to throw them out.

Owen, upon Ianto's arrival, had been obnoxious and rude. The way he was most of the time, Ianto now knew. That first day had been a never-ending parade of Owen commenting on Ianto's choice of attire (a suit, of course) and his proper manners, his Welsh roots, his affinity for the pterodactyl, and his coffee. Jack laughed along with Owen at Ianto's expense, but after Owen retreated to the vaults to get some tissue samples from their newest resident, Jack grinned widely at Ianto and told him once again that he really liked the suit. A wink quickly followed and then Jack was retreating to his desk. Ianto had laughed nervously, his skin hot with embarrassment and anger as he wondered what kind of team he'd signed on with.

The first week was a bit rough. Jack continued to make flirtatious comments while Owen made just as many rude ones as well as deciding he would play a few practical jokes. The morning of his second day Ianto found the Hub's entire collection of coffee mugs super-glued to the wall, requiring Ianto to purchase all new mugs since he could not remove the old without breaking them-which he did that night after everyone had gone, imagining they were Owen's face as he worked out his anger.

A few days later Owen rigged a balloon to explode when Ianto came through the cog door, covering him in alien slime. Owen, after his laughter had subsided, claimed it was harmless goop but even after showering and changing clothes Ianto felt uncomfortably itchy the rest of the day.

What had finally put an end to Owen's tormenting was when Ianto saved him from being mauled by a Weevil. Ianto happened to be in the vaults, checking on a tentacled creature they had in captivity when Jack and Owen had come bursting through the door with two snarling Weevils in tow. Ianto opened the cell doors and watched as Jack smoothly tossed his in. Owen, catching his toe in the lip of the doorframe, stumbled and his Weevil broke free, instantly turning on Owen with teeth bared as it lunged for Owen's jugular. Ianto didn't even pause to think as he pulled his sidearm and shot the Weevil, point-blank range in the head, dropping it mere centimeters from Owen.

The post-gunshot silence was deafening as Ianto holstered his weapon and Jack and Owen just stared somewhat awkwardly at Ianto. When he'd gathered his wits about him, Owen had offered Ianto a cursory nod and he'd taken off, leaving the Weevil dead and bleeding on the floor. Jack had clapped Ianto on the shoulder and given him a broad grin as he followed Owen. Ianto, as he learned was to be the norm for the next several months, was left to clean up the mess.

Owen stopped playing practical jokes or making obscenely rude comments after that day, though Ianto could occasionally still hear a hint of sarcasm when Owen spoke to him.

Approaching the board room tray of coffees in hand, Ianto could hear Tosh trying to calm Owen down.

"What the fuck, Jack," Owen was standing, leaning on his hands on the table, his face red. "Suzie's not been dead twenty-four hours and you've got this, this-," Owen sputtered, apparently unable to come up with a suitably insulting metaphor for Gwen.

Ianto set the tray on the end of the table and placed Jack's mug before him. Jack looked back at him pointedly, and Ianto steeled himself for the wrath of Owen.

"We could use a fifth person," Ianto said lamely as Owen turned his narrow eyes to Ianto.

"Why? All you do is fan about with coffee," Owen turned back to Jack. "Why can't Ianto start coming to the field with us. I'm sure he can do more than make a mocha-latte-cappuccino-whatever. This place won't fall to pieces if he's not here."

Jack just shook his head while Ianto remained silent. He tried to imagine himself in the field. He'd always been an office worker; he was good at that. As much as it scared him, the idea of working in the field with the others, a small part of him thought it sounded quite romantic; working side by side with Jack, saving Cardiff and the world from aliens. But there was Lisa to consider. Ianto brought himself back to reality. He couldn't leave Lisa alone here, or worse, with someone else wandering the Hub freely.

"Ianto's place is here," Jack said. "and Gwen is a police officer. She has training we can use," Jack added.

Ianto tried not to feel insulted by Jack's apparent lack of faith. Ianto knew he didn't seem like much, but he'd been trained in martial arts while at Torchwood One and had been the top marksmen, outside of the field agents, at Torchwood One shooting competitions.

"You just like her because she's gorgeous," Owen sighed as he fell into his chair, defeated. Ianto moved towards him with his coffee, offering Tosh her mug as he passed. She had fallen silent when Ianto had come into the room.

"You'll probably end up shagging her and then we'll all have to deal with that drama," Owen added, curling his lip in a sneer at Jack.

"I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind," Jack fired back. Ianto set Owen's mug before him, and saw Jack's jaw clenching, a sign of building anger.

"Jack's right," Tosh chimed and all three men turned to her. "We can use her police training. It'll work out."

Tosh smiled, as optimistic as ever. Ianto, with a nagging feeling he had let Jack down somehow, picked up the empty tray and left the board room just as Jack started in on Owen about clearing up the autopsy bay after dissection.

Ianto spent the rest of the afternoon down in the archives, away from Owen's scowl and Tosh's perpetual optimism. He was deeply engrossed in reorganizing the files from 1925. Someone had thought it'd be clever to file everything alphabetically by month, than by day of the week therefore the files for that year were a complete mess. Trying to cross-reference things was becoming quite difficult. Ianto didn't hear Jack until he was right on top of him, startling him out of his work.

"You spend too much time down here," Jack said and Ianto jumped, his arm bumping a stack of files he was working through and sending them sliding across the floor. Ianto scrambled to his knees and started collecting the files as Jack knelt down and gathered some as well.

"Sorry," Jack laughed.

Ianto raised his head, and found himself face to face with Jack. Ianto could feel Jack's breath; he could smell the peppermint he knew Jack liked. Jack was staring back at him, a smile on his face. Suddenly the memory of the night they'd captured Mwyfanwy flashed in Ianto's head and he moved away quickly, falling onto his rear as his back rammed into the file cabinet behind him. Ianto cursed under his breath as the handle of the lowest drawer jabbed sharply into his back. That'll leave a bruise, Ianto thought, wincing as he restacked the scattered files.

"Okay?" Jack asked with a hint of concern as he lowered himself to the floor across from Ianto, crossing his legs.

"Fine," Ianto mumbled as the spot where the handle hit him burned with pain. Definitely a bruise, Ianto sighed inwardly.

"You spend an awful lot of time down here alone," Jack said, glancing at the various stacks of files around Ianto, flipping through a few of them.

"It's a mess. Nothing was done the same from year to year," Ianto said as the pain in his back slowly started to fade to a dull ache.

"You have to be the most dedicated archivist Torchwood has ever seen," Jack grinned.

"Was there something you needed, sir?" Ianto asked after a long silence. It wasn't like Jack to simply sit on the floor with him and make small talk. In fact, Ianto could count on both hands the number of times Jack had spoken to him in private, without any of the others around.

"I wouldn't sleep with her," Jack said finally. Ianto paused, shocked into silence and unsure of a response was expected or not.

"I keep my personal life out of the office," Jack added, staring at Ianto, his expression changing from amused to thoughtful.

"Sir," Ianto started, not quite sure why Jack was sharing this with him. Jack certainly didn't owe Ianto any explanations.

"It would be hard on the team, an office romance," Jack looked down at his legs, his fingers picking at a loose thread on the hem of his trousers.

"I mean, if I was in love that'd be different," Jack added, his tone a bit wistful.

"Been there, done that," he added softly, so softly Ianto almost didn't catch the words.

Ianto watched Jack fiddle with the loose thread. He had nothing to say, the confusion over this confession catching him off guard. Silence stretched on. Suddenly, Jack popped up to his feet, flashing his perfectly white teeth in his characteristic grin. Ianto was getting good at reading Jack's smiles. This one was the one he used to cover. It was a fake.

"Don't stay down here too long," Jack called as he turned on his heels and strode out of sight.

"What the?" Ianto whispered, not quite sure what had just happened.