Jack opened his eyes slowly, and he smiled affectionately when the first thing he saw was Ianto's face, relaxed in contented sleep. The younger man could look quite cute when asleep, especially after a night of sex, basking in the afterglow.

Speaking of which, Jack couldn't help but wonder how long he himself had been asleep. He looked briefly out the window, and he decided that it couldn't have been more than three hours; the grey colours of pre-dawn barely crept in the room, brightening everything just enough for Jack to be able to distinguish shapes and objects around him.

Three hours… It was a particularly long sleep by his standards, but it wasn't that that had truly surprised him. No, the real surprise was that he had slept that long without being tormented by any nightmares. Even in the last few nights after his return, while sleeping alone in the bunker, he had woken up with a gasp, all but drenched in sweat and his heart beating so fast that it was a miracle he didn't die of a heart-attack. He had certainly never died that way before. Even the Master hadn't attempted to kill him like that; Jack supposed that it had been too mundane a death for his tastes.

He shook his head, berating himself for thinking about him. The Master was gone, he was no more. He wouldn't hurt Jack, the Doctor, or anybody else, ever again. They had won, and that horrible year had got erased from everyone's memories as if it had never existed.

Still… this was victory that, for Jack, had been interlaced with more pain than he would ever care admit to anyone. He had been unwelcome and ignored as a mistake by one side, then tortured and violated as a mistake by the other. And though Jack had found it in his heart to put on a smile as he said goodbye to the Doctor, he knew now, more than anything, that he had only been chasing a chimera. And so, in his desire to feel once more, to heal, he had gone to the one place that he could call something akin to a home – even if he had denied it at first by leaving.

Ianto shifted in his sleep with a sigh, cutting into Jack's train of thought. Jack blinked momentarily but, as the younger man rested his head on the time-agent's chest, he smiled and gently wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. And as Ianto grew still once more, a sweet expression settled on his features, Jack couldn't help but kiss him on the forehead. This man had been the only one who was willing to give him a sense of belonging after Jack searched for his utopia, only to come up with nothing. And though Jack wasn't sure where this would take either of them… he had no intention of abandoning it ever again.