Author's Notes: And we got to the last chapter. Ah, how time flies. I hope you like ending of this one; I tried to get it to be satisfactory despite the prompt, and I like to think that I succeeded. It turned out a bit of hurt-comfort situation with angst and fluff on the side, so I'd like to know what you think of it.

The main plot of this one is based on this: mclachland, livejournal, com/9522,html (just replace the comas with dots) but apparently, it has a different twist. The songs used are Precious by Depeche Mode and Enjoy the Silence, also by them. I kind of like the contrast and they seemed fitting.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy this chapter and, as usual, feedback is appreciated.

Things get damaged, things get broken

I thought we'd manage, but words left unspoken

Left us so brittle, there was so little left to give

Jack had been doing this – this polite battle of wills via e-mail – for months now. He'd declined the offer again and again, only to have Lieutenant general Sousa pose the question once more, and here it was yet again.

Captain Harkness,

Despite your assurances, I feel that Mr Jones would have a much better field for his talents in UNIT. The work of a general administrator is light years behind from what he could offer him here, and I think that

Jack closed the message without even reaching the end of it. There would be no point anyway. It wasn't like she hadn't written basically the same thing and he'd answered her in the same way time and time again; he knew the whole thing by heart. Wasted talent, blah blah blah, United Front Campaign, blah blah blah, deeply impressed by his cooperation, a place in UNIT. The key words were always the same. The key word of most of Jack's responses was 'no'.

Ianto had managed most of the organisation during Jack's absence, even if Gwen had commanded the missions, and the so-called United Front Campaign (a union consisting of the UNIT branches in London and Manhattan, Torchwood Two and Three all combining forces against a Cybermen attack) had been Ianto's idea. He'd dealt with most of it and Jack had seen videos from the whole thing and had read UNIT's reports on the case. Ianto had been brilliant, that much was true. Unfortunately, UNIT meant a lot of things, but a long and happy life wasn't one of them. And yes, Jack was fully aware that the same went for Torchwood, but at least the Captain had the comfort that Ianto would be close here. If he was here, there would be something Jack could do to protect him. In UNIT, he'd be out of Torchwood's jurisdiction.

Out of Jack's reach.

And while he'd have let him go (albeit with some difficulty) when the Doctor had asked, so much time had passed since then that he was quite sure he wasn't capable of letting a similar thing happen now.

o.O.o

It was almost a month later that Jack came into his office to find a post-it note stuck on the hanger. Ianto tended to stick them everywhere and somehow always sensed when Jack was looking for him. He was always very curt in those notes, and now was no exception.

UNIT called. Don't know what they want. Currently checking.

Oh, God.

Seconds later, Jack's Manipulator let out a short beep – Ianto had figured out a way to send instant messages to it – and Jack quickly opened it.

What does the head of UNIT want from you? – IJ

Where are you? Jack wrote as fast as he could as he descended the stairs from his office.

Archives, my office. – IJ

The signature was usually a way from Ianto to signal that the message was over. Jack wanted to tell him not to open anything, but he wouldn't be able to justify it. After all, usually he was the one who almost begged Ianto to deal with the contacts with the outside world and he was also quite sure that he was too later. Ianto was a fast reader; God only knew how much he'd gone through by now.

Ianto had made himself an office within the bowels of the Hub, just at the beginning of the Archives. No one else dared to go down there (afraid that they'd get lost, Jack always supposed) and therefore there's been no one to stop him and he'd made himself at home.

Usually, it was a place Jack liked – there was a computer, several bookshelves, a desk and a chair. The light was dim, but Ianto still preferred to do his personal projects down here and jack had never minded (save for the several times he'd told his lover that he'd damage his eyes if he kept doing that). Now, though, he dreaded going in.

When he finally opened the door tentatively, Jack saw Ianto leaning on the table with his elbows, his hands hiding his face. It reminded him of a moment long ago; of being afraid that this would be the last time he was seeing Ianto. It wasn't even a déjà vu; it was replaying the same scene with the only difference in the fact that this time, Ianto wasn't guilty of anything.

"Hello," Jack said quietly. Ianto didn't move and the Captain carefully sat on the other chair in the room. There were only two of them so he couldn't get lost.

"I'd ask how long this has been going on for," Ianto started, taking his hands off his face. Suddenly, he looked tired. So very tired. "but it's all here. Dates and everything; even the time it was opened. And they were opened, weren't they, Jack? Each and every e-mail since February. Last February, which makes this going on for just over a year."

"Ianto, I'm so sorry–"

"No, you're not," Ianto cut him off. "You're not. If you were, you would have told me. This information is over a year old, Jack! And I don't know how you've managed to hide it, but–" Suddenly, the anger seemed to wither away and sheer lack of understanding settled in. "I just don't get it," he whispered. "Why? Why would you hide something like that from me?"

Jack hadn't expected the question and really, could he be blamed? He'd expected a lot of things – Ianto being furious and disappointed and whatnot, but he hadn't expected a why.

"I thought that this part was fairly obvious," Jack's voice was soft – he was quite sure that Ianto was just trying to get him to say it out loud – but the man just frowned at him and he sighed. "Ianto, UNIT is an organisation that manages to be both merciless and unscrupulous while creating technology that's ten times more dangerous than what we have on site here. Also, Torchwood is an alien-fighting institute. UNIT is the army, and it occasionally deals with aliens as well."

"And what you're trying to say is?"

"I didn't tell you because it's dangerous and tempting – and that's a really bad combination when it comes to you – and because I'm going to miss you."

Ianto's expression was unreadable. "You assumed that I'll agree, then? You still do."

"I know you will," Jack said quietly. "Especially since you've learnt about it like this. You don't have anything to stay here for."

Ianto smiled, but it didn't quite make it to his eyes. "Oh, I think I do."

Jack leant closer to him over the table. "But you're going to leave anyway."

"I probably will, yes."

And at this point, Jack knew that the fight was lost.

o.O.o

The airport was crowded and yet they managed to get a bit of peace and quiet – after all, it would be a private flight, and Martha was waiting for them.

"I see you're already dressed," she said by a way of greeting. "Which is just as well because they want you to start immediately."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "No interview?"

Martha shook her head, slightly apologetic. "They've been monitoring you for the past year and a half."

Ianto took a deep breath and Jack could see the conflict in his lover's eyes seconds before he managed to school his features and respond, "Right. Okay." He looked at the soldiers standing on both sides of the entrance and then back at Gwen and Jack. "Would you mind if I–"

"No, of course not!" Martha motioned for them to step back. "You've got five minutes."

Ianto turned to Gwen first and stepped away along with her. Jack couldn't hear what they were saying but it didn't matter – he was trying to brace himself for what was coming anyway.

"Jack," Ianto started and the Captain turned around to face him. "I– I'm just–" He seemed ridiculously small all of a sudden, fiddling with a thread of his uniform – and jack had been right in his assumption before, it did suit him perfectly – and looking down. "I have absolutely no idea what to say."

"You don't need to say anything," Jack assured. He needed to say what he held in, though, so he went for it. "I'll miss you."

"Me too," Ianto managed, his voice strangely rough. He'd been avoiding his gaze but now looked up and his eyes were suspiciously red. "I'm sorry. I just want to try. You know, figure out what would feel right."

"Yeah." He didn't quite understand, actually, but there was no use of saying so now. Ianto was like that by nature – he'd always enjoyed a challenge, no matter what it was about. He wouldn't let himself miss an opportunity like that. "Well, good luck." He tried to swallow back anything unnecessary or inappropriate (or, actually, anything that would make this harder for both of them) but didn't quite manage to hold back the slight hitch in his breathing. There was something at his throat that prevented everything else from functioning right. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

Ianto smiled – it seemed to be quite a difficult task – and then gave a salute. "Until the next time, Captain."

"Until the next time, Ianto Jones," Jack echoed quietly as Ianto turned to face Martha and followed her into the plane without looking back.

All I ever wanted, all I ever needed

Is here, in my arms

Words are very unnecessary

They can only do harm

A week later found Jack pacing around the Hub and talking on the phone – or, actually, trying to get in contact with someone even half reliable who could give him recommendations for people he could hire. He wasn't used to this – Ianto was usually the one dealing with the communications (and, ironically, he'd just been turned into the brand new Director of Logistics and Communications, which Jack would have found amusing if he wasn't as angry as he was) – and couldn't figure out how to contact the right people and who the right people actually were.

He'd got the first report about Ianto just yesterday. Martha had written it as a personal favour (and half in secret, seeing that her employers didn't fancy giving any sorts of explanations to Torchwood) and he seemed to be having a good time. He was back in London, in their headquarters, and jack had even seen a photo of Ianto in his new office, smiling with the portraits of his predecessors behind him, all of which seemed to be at least twenty years older than him. He'd looked happy – or, well, displayed as much happiness as Ianto would ever allow himself to show to the outside world. Jack had tried to feel good for him, and had failed miserably.

He ended the call before it had even begun – he'd still been waiting for someone, anyone at all, to pick up the damn phone – and slammed the device down on one of the empty desks, knowing full well that it wasn't to blame for his misery, and yet unable to take it out on anything else.

"Jack?" Gwen spoke tentatively and he turned to look at her. "There's something weird happening here." She pointed at her screen and Jack, immensely grateful for the distraction, hurried to join her.

"Define weird."

"The 'possibly troublesome but also possibly a good sign' kind of weird. Look." A photo pulled up on the screen; a half-finished building on a main street that seemed somewhat familiar. "That's in the city centre; you need a permission from the mayor to build anything there because it's not anyone's personal property and they've been building it for a week. Currently it's already up to the fourth floor."

"What's it got to do with us?" Jack asked, confused. It was a rather quickly-appearing construction, but it wasn't all that remarkable.

"It looks normal," Gwen agreed, "until you look at the building permission. And then, there it is. UNIT all over the place."

She wasn't exaggerating. The organisation's signature was everywhere. Jack narrowed his eyes.

"What are they doing here?" he muttered, scrolling down through the documents. "I don't want them in my city."

"We can't stop them," Gwen said softly. "We could go check it out, though?"

Jack stared at the screen for a while longer before shaking his head. "Not yet," he decided at last, chewing on his lip as he made plans for the upcoming confrontation that was sure to follow. "We won't find anything but workers if we go now. Give it a week or two so it'll be ready and then we can go and see the finished thing."

It took UNIT just over two weeks to finish the building – and Jack couldn't even imagine how many people they'd hired to be able to make it, considering that it was at least thirty floors tall – and he and Gwen headed for the place as soon as they could.

It was a busy spot right now; that much was visible. People were coming in and out of the building all the time, all of them dressed in the standard UNIT uniforms and bringing in all sorts of things into what seemed to be the Cardiff branch of the organisation.

"Hey!" Jack called to a soldier nearby. The man turned to him and seemed ready to reject any kind of contact before they pulled out their Torchwood IDs. "Captain Jack Harkness. What exactly is happening here?"

It was apparent that he still wasn't inclined to give any information despite recognising a rank higher than his own, but another soldier joined them – a woman this time, about Ianto's age (and he really had to stop making comparisons everywhere; it certainly wasn't the easiest way to deal with the situation).

"Captain's orders," she said. "Directly from London; he said that it was good to have your eyes and ears everywhere so... here we are now. At least three hundred people were moved here."

"He?" Jack asked, surprised. Last he'd heard, there had been a woman in charge of the London headquarters.

The man scoffed. "'Captain', like hell. He's barely out of high school."

"He's doing great so far, Jim," the young woman insisted and Jack got the impression that it wasn't the first time they were having this conversation. "And I think he did an amazing job with– Captain Jones!"

They both swirled around and saluted – the man with significantly less enthusiasm – and Jack looked up to see the man they'd just discussed.

And just kept on looking.

Ianto cleared his throat delicately. "Surprise?"

Their eyes locked and Jack could barely register Gwen's started gasp as realisation hit her too; everything he could see was the look Ianto sent his way – tentative and asking and unsure – before his body managed to unfreeze itself and he was plastered against UNIT's newest Captain in the matter of seconds and he was pressing butterfly kisses to each part of Ianto's face he could managed while the younger man laughed heartily.

"I hate you," jack breathed out when Ianto caught his lips in a brief but affectionate kiss. "You have no idea how much I hate you." There was too much frantic emotion into the words for them to be true, though; ad Ianto quickly caught the meaning behind them.

"The feeling," he said as they broke apart, "is most definitely reciprocated."

Jack pulled back to take a good look at his lover. He was dressed just like the last time when they'd seen each other, almost a month ago now, and there was a small tag with his rank attached to the front of his uniform on his chest.

"Lieutenant general Sousa thought that the United Front Campaign could be useful at all times – even in times of peace – and I wholeheartedly agreed. Also... well, it was about time UNIT got a place in Cardiff as well."

"Let me get this straight," Jack said slowly, disbelief still reigning over his whole being. "You created an entirely new branch of an international secret organisation because you were homesick?"

Ianto pretended to think about it for a moment or two and then clicked his tongue. "Not exactly. I created an entirely new branch of an international secret organisation because I missed you."

Jack couldn't prevent the smile from appearing once more even if he'd tried – and he didn't feel like he'd have a reason to stop smiling any time soon. "You charming bastard."

"That's the one," Ianto said with a small half-laugh and looked away. "All yours. If you'd take me back, of course."

Jack just shook his head in disbelief and brought him closer again, this time for a hug. "Welcome home, Captain."

And as he said it, he knew that it applied to him just as much.