AN: FOLLOWS ON FROM 'A STOMACH FULL OF RATS' AND 'RAGE IN THE BLOOD'......................THE TOUCH OF FROST

PART ONE

Owen watched Ianto like a hawk. Ever since their wasted trip to Nepal Ianto had been...... off. It was the only word the concerned medic could think of. The young Welshman was clearly just clearly going through the motions. He served coffee, cleaned the Hub, became a fourth arm out in the field and he filed the archives. He sometimes laughed with the team or shared their frustrations, but Owen knew something was fundamentally wrong. Ianto was paler and thinner for a start, the expensively tailored suits failed to hide that much at least. He held himself a little too erect, never relaxing and Owen found himself wondering if Ianto's spine would snap from the physical tension. He flinched when touched, didn't eat enough and drank far too much coffee. There was no fault with his work, quite the opposite and the four remaining members of Torchwood got on extremely well in Jack's absence. Gwen had taken the initiative and they had all followed without even thinking about it.

It was just weird and Owen, after two weeks of careful observance decided to do something about it. It wasn't that he liked Ianto that much, he was just..... well.... worried. Ianto had taken Jack's departure with dignified decorum but it was obvious he was missing the enigmatic immortal deeply. But there was something else and Owen was determined to get to the bottom of it.

They sat in the boardroom. It was shaping up to be a quiet day. They sipped on gorgeous coffee and talked about the weather for a bit and Ianto edged out of his seat about to leave the room when Owen spoke up.

"Ok, everyone. Time for your bi annual medical exams. Ianto, you're up first."

Ianto froze on the spot and gaped at his colleague and just as quickly collected himself.

"Er right then." He knew he couldn't avoid it and Owen had been watching him all week. "I'll go down to your den then, shall I?"

Owen offered up a shark like grin. "Yep. Tosh you'll be up next!" He added to just to make it sound like he'd do it.... The girls knew, he had warned them.

Ianto perched himself on the very end of the exam table and waited for Owen. He knew there would be questions he couldn't answer and he wondered how the hell Owen was going to take that. He wondered why the hell Jack wasn't here. Maybe Jack had thought they were all dead and left for real this time. Perhaps he was always going to stay away anyway. Ianto closed his eyes and sighed and all he could see were Jack's guts and blood all over a polished floor. The clarity of the vision made Ianto lurch and he almost fell to the floor. Why on Earth would Jack come back to the man who had let that happen to him?

Ianto wanted to flee, but he sat there rigidly as Owen stepped down into the cold exam room.

"Right mate get your gear off, lets have a look at you."

Ianto hesitated.

"Is that really nessescary?"

Owen rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "You coffee god, me doctor, Capicsh?"

Ianto nodded. He reluctantly stripped trying and failing to hide himself with his own arms and Owen just gawped at white skin and new marks that hadn't been there a few weeks ago. Ianto's eyes remained firmly fixed on his feet. Owen should be dead. Owen HAD died, a year ago and Ianto knew that there was no way he could explain himself without sounding mad. He heard Owen step forward and hissed when his cold fingers made contact with his skin. Owen examined every inch of flesh in silence. Fingertips probing scar tissue that shouldn't be there. After what felt like an age he stepped back and picked up his Bekaran deep tissue scanner.

"I get the feeling you are not going to explain what's been happening to you whilst we were away, so I only have two questions." He said. He turned, holding up the device and adjusting it.

Ianto nodded. "Go on."

"Is there any risk to the rest of us?"

Ianto shook his head. "Everything is fine now. The world is safe."

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Ianto sighed and shook his head. "No."

Owen appeared to accept this and continued with his work. "I'll need to ask about your injuries Ianto."

"Ok. My arm was broken and not set properly. The scar in my side is a bullet wound which was treated at the time."

"Ianto, my scans indicate that the injuries are months old, you've had a prolonged dose of malnutrition and there's old deep tissue bruising......."

Ianto looked away and picked at his nails.

"Ianto?"

"Just leave it Owen. Everything has been fixed, just leave it, please."

The scanner was placed back down.

"I'll need a blood sample."

Ianto held out his arm and Owen carefully inspected it for track marks. He was relieved to find none.

Ianto flinched when the needle went in and turned even whiter than he already was. Owen thought he was going to faint but Ianto held himself together, just. The sample was taken and latex gloves were snapped off and dumped in the disposal.

"Look mate. I do not understand what I am seeing here. You are clearly traumatised......"

"I'm fine Owen." Ianto hopped off the table and made for his neatly piled clothes. "I'm fine. Just tired."

"Bullshit. Look I know you're missing Jac......."

Ianto swung round. "Jack? Why would I be missing him? He ran out on us, left us with his mess, nearly destroyed the world!" He screamed and then froze, realising what he had said. The rest of his clothes were hurriedly pulled on and like a suit of well made armour and Ianto hid behind the cloth, everything going into neutral.

"Have you finished?"

Owen could only stare in shock, he nodded and Ianto stepped away.

Three days later Jack returned. Only for Torchwood Three it had been seven months. Jack was sad at leaving the Doctor and Martha and angry at the delay. The TARDIS had needed to heal though and so had he, much as he hated to admit it. Seven months away in Earth's timeline had only been three weeks in his. The Doctor's math had never been that good.

The time required to re connect with his team had been stolen by the arrival of John Hart and Jack could see Ianto distancing himself, even when he had asked him on the date. What he found out later was the fact that Ianto had witnessed his rather intimate encounter with Gwen when she announced her engagement. Jack didn't understand why Ianto looked so deflated, why he was so cautious. It was then he discovered he'd been away for over half a year.

No wonder.

The final shock of the day.

Grey.

Ianto locked the door of his hotel room and went to the bathroom to shower. He stripped off, shaking. His head was spinning. Jack was home, bringing more secrets and lies in his wake. He had made no indication that he remembered that year and maybe he didn't remember. Ianto had no idea. He just couldn't look at him without his guts hurting in shame. He stood under steaming water. He was angry with Gwen for mooning all over the man she had criticised every day since his departure and he was furious with Jack for simply being there, for coming back and upsetting the newly found balance in the team. He thumped the tiles and cried with frustration and confusion.

Owen had not asked again, after the medical exam, and Ianto had been quietly grateful, but if Jack truly didn't know what had happened? Ianto didn't want to think about it. Was he going mad? Did it happen at all? Did someone put some fucked up reality in his head to compromise Torchwood?

Ianto's tears were mixed with the water and he sank down into the floor of the shower stall and hugged his knees to his chest.

Jack was pulled along the corridor by Gwen's determined grip on his hands and he watched over his shoulder as Ianto slunk into his room without even glancing in his direction. Jack sighed and allowed himself to be led to the room next to his. Gwen was talking non stop, mostly demanding and Jack was disinclined to answer so he just smiled at her and that seemed to be enough. He followed her into her room and Gwen closed the door at his back. Jack suddenly felt awkward. His back was still aching from the fall from the building and all he wanted to do was run to Ianto. The TARDIS had clearly re set time and Gwen had had no idea that so much had happened and Jack wanted to keep it that way, but it had been hard to shake the haunted look in Ianto's eyes. He stood there, for once in his life not sure how to handle the situation as Gwen stepped right into his personal space.

"Jack, you know you can tell me anything. I missed you so much I...."

He took a pace back. "I missed you too. I'm sorry..... I can't talk about what happened."

Gwen's hands went to her hips and she stood there looking indignant. "I thought you trusted me. You always told me everything before." Her eyes were blazing with a fierce fire and Jack smiled again, he had really missed that.

"Not everything Gwen. This isn't about you. You don't need to know where I was. I'm back ok. I'm sorry I left the way that I did, but I'm back." It was the best he could do. He watched her fingers as she worried at her engagement ring, wanting to rip it away, he was sure. "I'm glad to see that you held on to things, stayed with Rhys."

Her glare became more pronounced. "You didn't give me any choice. When you came back after Abbadon..... when you came back, I thought, but it was Ianto you went to. Was it always him Jack? Who did you come back for?"

Ok he hadn't expected that. He was still reeling from the turmoil of the previous year that wasn't and how the hell did he get his head round that? It suddenly hit him with the force of a wall slamming into his face. He sagged against the door and buried his face in his hands and tried his damndest not to let tears show.

"Jack?" Gwen's tone softened considerably, her fingers carded through his hair and the contact was electrifying, beautiful and most unwelcome.

"Please don't." He looked up and watched as shock widened her eyes.

"I came for Ianto first and foremost. I need him. I need all of you, but mostly him."

Her disappointment washed over him, but somehow she managed to hitch a smile. "Then you'd better go and find him."

Jack was dismayed when Ianto didn't answer his door, undeterred he pressed a couple of buttons on his wrist strap and then let himself in. He closed the door behind him and then paused gazing about the empty room. Then he heard the shower from the adjoining bathroom and a grin spread across his face. It quickly fell when he discovered the young Welshman cowering under a freezing jet of water. Jack shut off the water and shucked his coat. He knelt down at Ianto's side and gently pulled his wet body into the folds of his warm coat and was worried to see almost no response from the man in his arms as he hauled him to his feet and led him, dripping, back to the main room. Jack set him down on the bed and Ianto shivered under the wool of the great coat and stared at his toes which were curling into the carpet. It was a pitiful sight and Jack was at a loss and half wondered about fetching Owen. He stood back, uncertain of what to do.

"Ianto?"

Great empty wells of ocean. It was all Jack could think of when he looked down into Ianto's eyes as the man himself looked up.

"Jack?" It was a plea.

Jack sank to his knees in front of him and held out his arms. Ianto slumped into the embrace and clawed at his shirt, his hands fisting in the fabric. Jack rubbed his back and soothed down wet unruly hair, their foreheads resting against one another.

"Jack.... Jack.....Jack." Ianto kept whispering over and over and Jack just stayed where he was despite the cramp and the worry.

"It's ok Ianto. Everything's gonna be ok."

What felt like hours passed them by, but in reality it was less than one and Ianto eventually pulled himself away and sat upright. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand and sniffed noisily.

"Oh, God I'm sorry. Your coat, it's wet now. I'm sorry."

Jack's fingers brushed at his cheek. "It's fine. You warm yet?"

Ianto wasn't so he took off the coat and clambered under the bed covers, pulling them tightly around him and settling his head down on the pillows. He gazed at Jack who spread his coat out across the chair by the window to dry it out. He closed the curtains and dimmed the lights before coming over and settling himself down beside Ianto. They lay there looking at each other for a long time. Jack was heartbroken to see him so sad.

"There's nothing to forgive Ianto. I see it in your eyes, but you did the right thing."

"You remember?"

Jack nodded, his hand gently cupping Ianto's face. "I want you to sleep and tomorrow we will talk about this properly."

Ianto nodded. "Will you stay?"

Jack smiled. "Yes." He relieved to see Ianto close his eyes and watched as the younger man drifted into sleep. Jack would watch him all night, to keep him safe from whatever the night had to bring.

AN: i PROMISE THINGS DO GET BETTER FOR OUR TEABOY.....I'M JUST CRAP AT WRITING HAPPY IANTO.