Um...hello? Anyone there? Hi, sorry about how long this took...and also sorry about this chapter, nothing really happens because I sort of decided that I just needed to get back into the swing of writing and the story after everything that happened. But I'm back (hopefully) and am in a WAY better place than I have been for like...a year basically.

So...what do I even say in this section anyways? This chapter is a filler? Warnings: non-beta'd, barely even edited by myself as I needed to make sure I actually got around to posting this!

Disclaimer: Once again, Torchwood does not belong to me. sadface. I wish it did. But I also don't because who knows if I would even do it justice?

So here goes nothing, hope this isn't too painful...read and review and whatever!

It got lonely though, sifting through the lower levels for hours on end in complete silence. In London, working in the Secure Archives, hidden away where no harm could befall him like the precious asset London had viewed him as, he had constantly been in the company of others, namely his two bodyguards, who, after Lisa had chastised him for not knowing their names turned out to be quite friendly people. They had been some of the first to die when London fell.

In Scotland there was Archie and Aileen and, even if he did spend hours by himself he cherished the slight freedom he was suddenly given. Archie still kept a sharp eye on him, knowing how valuable he could be, but he was allowed to venture out alone, even allowed to go feed Nessie.

Ianto was, when all was said and done, a prisoner of Torchwood. He was theirs forever, he had been from the moment they had found him dying on the streets of London and he accidentally babbled at them in an alien tongue.

He knew too much for a homeless person, so London took him in.

He knew too much for any person, so London kept him.

Ianto told Lisa he was a prisoner once but she had merely laughed it off, told him to stop being silly. Some nights he wondered if she was in on it, but as quickly as those thoughts came he brushed them away. If there was ever a person who wouldn't participate in such underhanded schemes it was Lisa.

Ianto was alone in Cardiff though. Maybe that was a theme of his in Wales, for he'd been alone growing up. There had been exceptions, like when Rhiannon felt guilty when he was arrested, or when his cousin Daffyd had taken him under his wing and let him join his gang, or even the odd man he'd befriended when he was seven who told him stories about the stars and taught him funny languages that later turned out to be quite useful.

He'd grown up in the seedier parts of Cardiff.

Of course he knew about aliens.

He just knew more about them than the general populace should.

Ianto shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Enough was enough. He couldn't spend another second in the archives without losing his mind. He rose to his feet, brushing off his suit and spared a quick glance at the CCTV camera trained on him. He rolled his eyes. Harkness really needed to get a hobby. He was far too paranoid for his own good, constantly watching Ianto like a hawk. Just because Ianto had worked at London didn't mean he was going to set the damn hub on fire and laugh gleefully as it burned. He doubted he had ever laughed gleefully in his life.

Jack couldn't help himself. After Owen's admission he had taken to watching Ianto whenever he could, not that he wouldn't have even if Owen hadn't previously met and insulted Ianto. He was drawn to the Welshman, the way he had never been drawn to anyone before. It was probably because he was such a mystery. He knew next to nothing about Ianto Jones. Actually, he knew absolutely nothing, other than his name and possibly date of birth though that was suspect. How could that man be twenty-three and already be so closed off? Alright fine, dumb question. Ianto had been with Torchwood for a shockingly long time. How old must he have been when he started?

Jack watched as he made his way out of the archives, admiring the cut of the suit today, as well as the stunning pink shirt he had paired with it. Jack groaned. His mind really needed to stop going there.

What was he doing? He never emerged from the archives. The rest of the team seemed surprised too, Tosh peering out from behind her monitors, Owen dropping his scalpel in the med bay, Gwen pausing in her vendetta against the asinine coffee maker that seemed determined to produce only the most toxic of sludge.

Ianto spared a glance at the coffee machine and rolled his eyes. They really needed to clean it, if they wanted it to produce any drinkable coffee. He headed towards the tourist office, the door rolling back for him when Jack's voice rang out.

"Where are you going?'

Ianto turned around, his expressionless mask firmly set on his face.

"I'm taking a break." With that he turned back around and walked out, leaving the shocked team behind him.

"We're allowed breaks?" Gwen asked after the cog door had closed shut once more. Jack shook his head and walked away, not bothering to listen to the barbed remark Owen shot her way.

Ianto tilted his head back and stared up at the sky. It was hard to believe, sometimes, that there was so much out there. Not all of it was hostile, Ianto knew that, had experienced that first hand, but he also knew that there was plenty of hostility out there. Violence and greed weren't specifically human traits it seemed.

"Ianto?"

Ianto whirled around to come face to face with none other than his older sister. Rhiannon gasped when she saw it really was him and promptly walked forwards and smacked him across the face.

"Ifan Jones!" she shouted, "Why didn't you tell me you were in Cardiff you daft sod!"

Ianto scowled and rubbed his cheek. His eyes darted up to the CCTV and saw that it was, as per usual, trained on him. Of course the Captain was witness to his reunion with Rhiannon.

"Nice to see you too, Rhi," he replied coolly. Rhiannon gaped at him. He supposed he deserved this, he hadn't seen her since he packed up and left for London five years ago.

Rhiannon flung her arms around him, conveniently forgetting his aversion to such greetings. She squeezed him tightly before letting him go. They had spoken on the phone a few times, as soon as Ianto got off the streets and was gifted a phone by Torchwood. She knew he'd been living in Scotland but he hadn't bothered to tell her about Cardiff. He wasn't staying for very long, or so he'd assumed. Besides, so much time had passed, he wasn't sure if he was ready to see Rhiannon again, or even to see his niece and nephew. He sure as hell wasn't ready to see Johnny.

Rhiannon pulled away and smacked him on the back of his head, treating him as though he were twelve again. He shoved her away and scowled even deeper.

"Stop that Rhi," he snapped. She glared at him.

"Oh no, Yan. No. You're coming with me and you are having an actual conversation with me and telling me what the bloody hell you're doing in Cardiff and why the bloody hell you didn't bother ringing me to say you'd be here."

Ianto sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, stumbling along as Rhiannon pushed him towards a chips cart.

Jack had hurried back up to his office as soon as Ianto had walked out and tapped into the CCTV feed so he could watch the mysterious archivist. He truly was gorgeous in his suit, if a little too thin and pale, the sun beating down on him as he stared almost wistfully up at the sky. Jack was so caught up in watching the tiny emotion playing across Ianto's face that he didn't notice the woman approaching him until Ianto had turned around and promptly been smacked across the face.

He heard Tosh gasp from down below and smirked as he realized she had been Ianto watching too. He rushed down to her station and leaned in close behind her, eyes glued on the exchange. Owen and Gwen hurried over as well, Jack brushing away their queries as to what was going on.

Clearly Ianto knew this woman, if her enthusiastic hug was anything to go by. A scowl was etched into Ianto's features as the woman pulled away and hit him on the back of the head. Owen let out a laugh at that, and Jack couldn't help but chuckle at the petulant expression that flashed across Ianto's usually impassive face.

"Can you bring up the sound, Tosh?" Gwen asked, clearly hooked on the visual playing out in front of her. Tosh nodded and rapidly typed some commands into her keyboard.

"-what the bloody hell you're doing in Cardiff and why the bloody hell you didn't bother ringing me to say you'd be here."

With that the woman pushed Ianto towards a chips cart. They bought some chips and walked over to an empty bench, sitting down. Tosh quickly pulled up the proper feed and they all leaned in a little closer. Ianto glanced right at the camera and narrowed his eyes in irritation before a resigned look took over his features and he glanced back at the woman.

"How've you been then Rhi?" Ianto asked conversationally.

"Why haven't you rung, Yan? It's been six months. You were a wreck. I rang and rang and rang and you never picked up. I was starting to think you'd gone and offed yourself!"

"I didn't."

Rhiannon rolled her eyes. "Obviously I can see that you bloody fool. How daft do you think I am? But really, Yan, I was worried about you."

Ianto hiked his shoulders up slightly. That was the problem with siblings. It never mattered how long you'd been apart, you always just fell right back into being kids again. Not that Rhiannon or Ianto had ever really been kids, not in the usual sense of the word. He shut his eyes for a moment and breathed slowly in.

"You got a smoke, Rhi?" he asked, desperate to avoid her question. Rhiannon smacked him across the back of his head again.

"You've taken up that filthy habit again Yan? You know I don't smoke, I've got kids, not that you'd remember that."

Ianto scowled. "I remember you have kids Rhi."

"Doesn't seem that way."

Ianto didn't know how to reply. He couldn't tell her he was sorry because, deep down, he was fairly certain that he wasn't. He wasn't a good person for children to be around, that much was obvious to him. Maybe he had been once, when he'd first joined Torchwood and was hopeful about Lisa, but that was before he realized he was their prisoner, their pet, theirs. Forever. Sure, Archie was different, but Ianto didn't harbour any illusions that Archie didn't know of Ianto's status as Torchwood's favourite prisoner.

"How's Mam?" Ianto eventually asked, genuinely curious to hear the answer.

Rhi sighed. "The same as ever, I suppose. She asked about you a few times. Where's my darling boy, she'd say. A right insult, mind you, I always thought I was the favourite."

Ianto smirked. "Don't know why you'd think that Rhi, you were an unholy terror."

Rhi laughed. "You were worse Ifan, don't you dare try to tell me otherwise!"

Ianto laughed lightly at that. "It was good seeing you, Rhi."

Rhiannon rolled her eyes. "It was good seeing you too you idiot. And yes, I understand I dismissal when I hear it. I'll be seeing you Yan, mark my words, yeah?"

Ianto nodded before walking away, throwing a wave to Rhi over his shoulder.

Owen was the first to pipe up, staring at the rest of the team. "Bloody hell, didn't even cross my mind he'd have family."

The rest of the team shifted uncomfortably. It hadn't actually occurred to any of them either, odd as that may be. Ianto was always so composed, so solitary. It was unsettling to think of him as a younger brother, as a boy with a mother, a father, with scraped kneecaps and playing in forests and chasing frogs and all that other stuff. Then again, this was Ianto. It was doubtful he'd ever chase a frog. More likely he'd devise and intricate and vaguely impossible trap to capture it that would somehow work.

"Me neither. Feel sort of daft for not realizing it though," Gwen added. Tosh nodded her head. They stood there in silence a few more moments before the sound of the cog door's alarms pierced their musings.

"Enjoy the show?" Ianto asked, eyebrow arched deliciously. Jack shook his head. Not the time.

The team jumped up and scurried around, trying to look like they were working on things. Ianto rolled his eyes. No wonder Torchwood was Cardiff's worst kept secret. Really, they had to think the citizens of Cardiff were quite stupid if they still thought they ran a secret organization.

"I'll be in the archives," Ianto said walking away. "And clean the damn coffee machine!" he snapped, glaring at it once more, fingers itching to clean it.

Jack stared at Ianto leave, before glancing back at the coffee machine. It really was disgustingly filthy.