When Ianto opened his eyes, he saw Jack standing by the window, looking out at the rainy night, naked and beautiful in the pale moonlight. He stretched out across the bed, looking at him silently, taking all that beauty in. He didn't often have a chance to just look at Jack without being noticed. He couldn't see his face from there, but he had a pretty great view of every muscle on his back, and of course of his really great ass. His skin looked perfect in that dim light, his body so strong. He was the most beautiful thing in the world for Ianto.

"Take a picture, it would last longer." Jack must have heard him move. Or maybe he noticed the change of rhythm in is breathing. Either way, Ianto was reminded once again of how hard it was to sneak up on him.

"Why would I? I'm quite enjoying the real thing from here." Even if he couldn't see it, Ianto knew he was smiling now. "What are you doing?" Ianto's voice was still deep from sleep. Jack once told him he really loved that.

"I was looking at the rain."

"Did you have a nightmare?" Jack always had nightmares. So many times Ianto had seen him move in his sleep, moaning slightly, and then opening his eyes all of a sudden, terrified, breathing heavily. And every time, Ianto didn't ask any question, knowing he wouldn't answer. Instead, he had always just moved closer to him, putting his arms around him, holding him, silently telling him he was there and everything was ok. He had done it night after night, and it always seemed to help a little.

"No, not really. I just couldn't sleep."

"What time is it?"

Jack looked a the alarm clock on the bedside table, so Ianto could finally see a bit of his face. "It's 3 am"

"Come back to bed please."

Jack was looking out the window again. "I told you, I can't sleep."

"I didn't say anything about sleeping."

Jack finally turned around. Ianto was on his back, one hand under his head, the other stretching on the other side of the bed, the sheets barely covering his naked hips. Jack stared at him for a bit, eyes full of desire, biting his bottom lip slightly. Every time he looked at him that way, Ianto felt incredibly powerful, knowing he could have that effect on someone like Jack.

A second later, Jack was moving toward him, slowly. Ianto moved the sheets aside to welcome him. Jack laid down on his side, looking at him dead in the eyes. Ianto gave a little, tentative peek at his lips. "See, this is better."

Jack put one arm around Ianto, and firmly pulled him closer to himself. "Yes, it is."He kissed him with that mix of urgency and tenderness that could almost sum up their whole relationship. He moved on top of Ianto, leaving his lips to start kissing him behind the ear, really slowly, before moving to his neck and then to his chest, lower and lower. Once his head disappeared under the sheets, Ianto was definitely wide awake.

A while later, they were still awake in each other's arms, Ianto comfortably listening to Jack's heartbeat, thinking about all the times that heart had actually stopped, and about how grateful he was that it had always started beating again, because imagining a life where he had never met Jack was just impossible for him at this point. It was still raining hard outside. He liked the sounds of the drops against the windows.

"You have a scar," he suddenly said. It was something that was happening very often to Ianto lately. When they were like this, naked together, he just started sharing his thoughts, like he wanted Jack to know what was on his mind. It was such an unusual thing for him, he had always been such a private person. But apparently, it was different with Jack. Like everything else was.

"What?" Jack asked a bit surprised, his finger tracing little circles on Ianto's skin.

"You've died so many times in so many ways, but you only have one scar..." Ianto moved a finger in a straight line down Jack's chest, down his stomach, and then stopping it on his right hip. "Here."

"This is from...before."

"What happened?"

"It was back when I was a time agent. I was in a bar fight in 1973, I got stabbed with a kitchen knife. I almost died."

Ianto moved down the sheets and kissed Jack's scar, lingering for a bit, causing Jack to arch his back. When he reappeared, he let his chin rest on Jack's chest, so he could look at him more easily.

"You've had quite a life, haven't you?"

"I think you might say that, yeah." Jack's thumb started following the lines of Ianto's beautiful red lips.

"I am really glad you didn't die." Ianto felt a bit stupid saying that and averted his eyes from Jack's. Once again the words had escaped his mouth before he could even realize it.

"Well, so am I." Jack's hand was still on Ianto's chin, so he made him look at him again. "Come here."

Ianto moved up a little so they were now facing each other perfectly. They kissed again, very slowly. There was no rush. They felt like they had all the time in the world to just be together.

When they parted, Ianto prompted himself up on his elbow, so he was now looking down at Jack.

"If I'd ask you how many people have seen this scar, we'd be here for months, wouldn't we?" Ianto wasn't sure he really wanted to know. It was bad for everyone to think about about their boyfriend's exes. It was worse when said boyfriend had lived for centuries and really loved sex.

"Well. If I can remember even half of them."

What was intended as a joke, ended up being like a punch in the gut for Ianto. What if he was destined to be one of the many forgotten? He must have wore his worries pretty clearly on his face, because he could tell Jack sensed the shift in his emotion, how he went from curious to scared in one second. By now, he knew Jack could read him like an open book, probably better than anyone ever had. Even better than Lisa. So he was not that surprised when he gently touched his face and said, with that sweetness in his voice he only showed when they were alone, "I always remember the good ones though," and then kissed him again, as if he was trying to prove his point.

The moment Jack's mouth met his own, Ianto relaxed. He shouldn't think about this. They still had a lot of time to be together anyway. By now, Ianto knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jack, if Jack wanted him to. He was determined to try and make the best of what they had.

Lately, he had felt closer than ever to him. They were slowly and casually turning into a real couple, going on dates, sleeping together every night, waking up in each other's arms, fighting over the stupidest things. Jack even had a bunch of clothes in Ianto's apartment, "in case of emergency" he had said. Neither one of them knew exactly how that happened, or how to feel about that. They were both pretty good at avoiding any kind of relationship conversation. The only thing Ianto knew for sure was that it felt good to be with Jack, and that, no matter what would happen in the future, when Jack would move on, what they had right now was real.

And right now Jack was pushing one of his legs between his, their bodies pressing against each other. Jack had that teasing look in his eyes that always worried Ianto.

"So...how about you, Ianto?"

He pretended to not understand the question. "What about me?"

"How many people have had pleasure of seeing all this?" Jack asked, pulling up the sheets a little and peaking at his naked body, making Ianto blush.

"Oh...well..." He felt kind of embarrassed.

"See, it's not nice when you are the one getting all the questions, is it?"

Ianto pushed Jack's shoulder gently. "Shut up, I'm thinking!"

"Wow. Don't hit me. I'm still your boss, no mater how naked I am right now."

"You weren't really complaining just half an hour ago."

"Ok, point taken. Now stop stalling and answer my question."

"Ok. Well...the first was Kelly in high school," not a great memory, Ianto thought, "than Jane and Sarah in college, than that girl from the pub..."

"Wow," Jack interrupted, the same teasing look in his eyes, his hand now firm on Ianto's lower back, "I didn't picture you as a one night stand kinda guy."

"Really? How about our one night stand?" Truthfully, Ianto had always known that the first time he slept with Jack was not gonna be a one time thing. Maybe Jack was right, Ianto wasn't really a one night stand kind of guy.

"Oh, do you mean the one that is still going on in this very moment?"

Jack's hand moved even lower. "Now keep going please. I'm finding this very interesting."

"Then there was Karen. And finally Lisa. That's it."

"Not bad. You could have done better though. You should have used your puppy eyes better."

"Well, Sorry if I'm more selective than you."

"That's for sure. But how about men?"

"Just one." Ianto took Jack's hand and intertwined their fingers, "Tall, blue eyes, immortal, kind of smug..."

Jack smiled a big, content, happy smile, the one that always made Ianto feel completely, stupidly in love. "Sounds like a great guy."

"Oh, I bet you'd love him, probably even a bit too much."

"I'm sure he deserves to be loved." Jack was still joking, but in that moment, holding his hand, feeling his body, looking into his eyes, Ianto felt so in love he wasn't sure how to handle it. It was scary, loving someone that much. So his tone became serious, his voice deep. "Yes, he does."

Jack's smile melted away and was replaced by a very serious expression. His blue eyes were looking right through him, and Ianto felt like a complete fool. Did he push too far? He was about to open his mouth to say something to fix this when Jack rolled on top of him and kissed him fiercely, hungrily. He stopped for a fraction of a second to look Ianto in the eyes again, without saying a single word. Ianto understood it all.

Because there was no need for any other word that night. It was all in their eyes, in their lips, in their hands. It was in the way they felt alive and free and themselves when they were together. It was in the way they knew every detail of each other's bodies, in the familiar smells and tastes. It was in the heavy breathing and the shared shivers, in their fast heartbeats and tender, secret whispers. It was in the way they called out each other's name. It was in the afterwards, all bliss and peace and love. It was in intertwined fingers and intertwined legs, stolen kisses and stolen touches. It was in moments when the outside world didn't exist, when all that mattered was the other person and the need to feel close.

There was no need words.