Owen pounded on the door to Ianto's flat.

"Open the fucking door, Jones," he yelled. "I'll just pick the lock if you don't"

A door opened further down the corridor and an extremely elderly lady peered around the frame. Owen tried to smile reassuringly but only managed to scare the woman. She went back in and slammed the door. Owen raised his fist once more to thump the door in front of him but it opened before he had chance. Ianto didn't even acknowledge him. He simply let the door swing open as he drifted back to the lounge. Owen followed him in and watched as Ianto sat on the sofa. He perched himself on the edge and folded his arms over his knees. His head hung to his chest. Owen got the feeling Ianto had been like this for some time. He was still wearing the bloodied suit he was brought home in last night. Jack had said the Welshman wouldn't let him into the flat. Hardly surprising really. The fact he'd let Owen in must be a good sign.

He sat down next to Ianto and put his medical bag on the table. The other man's eyes flicked to the bag momentarily.

"Okay Yan, this is the thing. We're all worried about you."

This gained him Ianto's puzzled attention.

"It's true," Owen continued. "Don't mistake that for forgiveness though. We're not ready for that. For now, I'm here as your colleague and your doctor. I need to check you over."

Ianto was confused. He'd convinced himself that Jack was going to kill him last night. Instead, he'd left when Ianto wouldn't let him in. Now Owen was here, showing apparent concern. He'd never liked Ianto at the best of times, so to have him taking care of him felt strange.

"I'm fine," Ianto mumbled.

"Like fuck you are," countered Owen. "First things first, have you eaten or had anything to drink?"

Ianto shook his head.

"Wait here." Owen went to the kitchen and returned a couple of minutes later with a large glass of milk. He handed it to Ianto along with a handful of vitamins.

"Drink that for now, and then take a shower."

Ianto gulped the milk down, evidence that he was incredibly thirsty. Then, without a word, he headed for the bathroom.

"You've got ten minutes then I'm coming in after you."

In the bathroom, Ianto went through the motions of showering. It wasn't conscious, just pure habit. He barely noticed the water, he felt so numb. Inside his head though, Ianto's mind was whirling. Lisa was gone. He hadn't been able to save her, despite all his promises. Jack had broken his promise for him. He wanted to hate Jack, but couldn't. Right now he wanted to beat the living daylights out of the Captain, but he didn't hate him. Lisa had murdered two people and would have murdered more if Jack hadn't stopped her. He'd sat all night going over everything. His thoughts had swung between abject grief for Lisa and working though his feelings on what Jack had done. After hours of thinking, Ianto still hadn't resolved things in his mind. What he couldn't figure out, was why Jack hadn't killed him when they'd shot Lisa.

The shower began to run cold but Ianto failed to notice. It wasn't until Owen yelled through the door that he became aware.

"Hurry up, Ianto!"

Reluctantly, Ianto stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He pulled on a pair of boxer shorts before going back to the lounge. Owen had his medical bag open and was pulling out his Bekaran Deep Tissue Scanner and told Ianto to lie down on the sofa. Owen could see that Ianto was deeply uncomfortable with the examination but carried on regardless. He wasn't particularly enjoying it himself. He slowly waved the scanner over Ianto for about thirty seconds. The scanner would show Owen any injuries Ianto may have sustained when Lisa threw him from the gantry. It showed everything from the top layer of skin through to the internal organs.

"Well," Owen began. "Physically you're more or less fine. Just some bruising.
"Great.," murmured Ianto as he sat up.

Owen watched him carefully, unsure of how to proceed. Ianto's body may be okay, but his emotional state was going to take a lot longer to heal. Owen wasn't a psychiatrist but they couldn't exactly take him to a proper shrink. He would just have to do what he could. He first had to get past his own feelings on the matter. Ianto had, after all, betrayed them. Owen had spent the last few hours thinking about it. He'd eventually asked himself what he would have done in Ianto's place and had to admit he probably would have done the same thing. This didn't stop him from being angry. Still, he had a job to do.

"Did you sleep last night?"

Ianto shook his head sullenly.

"In that case, go to bed."

"Can't," replied Ianto wearily. "I don't want to sleep."

"Tough."

Feeling incredibly self-conscious, Ianto climbed into bed. A few seconds later Owen came into the room with a syringe in his hand. Ianto briefly panicked, thinking that maybe Owen was about to poison him. Rationality kicked in and he realised it was probably just a sedative. If Jack had wanted him dead, Ianto wouldn't know anything about it.

"I'm sorry Owen," he practically whispered it. "I'm not asking for, or even expecting forgiveness from any of you, I just want you to know it wasn't intentional."

"Look mate," said Owen, as he rubbed Ianto's arm with an alcohol wipe. "I don't hate you, but you're not my favourite person at the moment. Let's concentrate on getting you fit and take it from there."

"Thanks."

"This will help you sleep," Owen told him. "Jack is on his way over to look after you while you're out."

He administered the sedative and watched as Ianto fell asleep.

Jack arrived about twenty minutes later.

"How is he?" he asked Owen.

"He needs to be watched," the medic told him. "The best way to do that is to get him back to work, where we can all keep an eye on him."
"Okay," Jack replied grimly. "Get back to the hub. You're in charge until I get back."

When Owen left, Jack took his coat off and flung it on the sofa. He stuck his head around the bedroom door and saw Ianto sleeping peacefully. Jack made himself a cup of tea (there didn't seem to be any coffee), and sat down to wait for Ianto to wake up.

********************************************

Ianto emerged into the lounge to find Jack reading on the sofa.

"Sir?"

The Captain put down the copy of War and Peace he'd found on the shelf. He'd read it so many times, he could dip into whenever he liked these days.

"Good afternoon, Ianto. Sit down; I'll get you a cup of tea."

"How long have I been asleep?"
Jack checked his watch. "About seven hours."

Jack made Ianto a cup of Earl Grey and gave it to him. The younger man took it hesitantly.

"I haven't put anything in it."

Ianto took a sip and seemed to wait for the poison to kick in. When nothing happened, he relaxed slightly. Jack sat back down and Ianto directly in the eye.

"Time to talk." he said, keeping his voice neutral. Jack was extremely pissed off by what had happened but couldn't bring himself to blame Ianto entirely. Lisa had used his love for her own gain. Not that he was totally blameless, but he was probably punishing himself more than Jack ever could.

"Why didn't you tell me about her?"

Venom flashed across Ianto's features fleetingly, but disappeared as quickly as it came.

"I knew you'd destroy her," he replied quietly.

"Not necessarily," Jack told him. "I'd have given the situation all due consideration."

He realised how heartless he sounded as he said it.

"Look Ianto. I'm not going to apologise for killing her. She wasn't Lisa anymore. Lisa died in London. The thing she became couldn't be allowed to escape."

"I KNOW!"

The sudden shout startled Jack after the hours of quiet.

"I understand that," Ianto continued more calmly. "It doesn't detract from the fact; I lost my girlfriend last night."

Tears sprang to his eyes but he didn't allow them to consume him. Jack silently berated himself. He'd been too busy thinking about the danger they'd been in to concern himself with Ianto's personal feelings. In the heat of the battle, it was the danger that mattered. Now there was another priority. Amongst the death and destruction was a man who'd lost almost his whole world. It was time for Ianto to decide how much more of his world he was going to lose.

"You've got three choices as I see it," Jack said, not unkindly. "One, you come back to work tomorrow and we carry on as normal. Two, come back to work tomorrow and see how you feel at the end of the week. If you want to leave then, you can. Three, you can quit now."

Ianto studied the liquid in his mug. Without looking up, he asked;

"With two and three, would I be Retconned?"

"Yes," Confirmed Jack. "It'll be easier on you. I won't just abandon you though. I'll make sure you have money and a new identity."

Ianto weighed up his options. He did enjoy working for Torchwood, but a lot of his time had been taken up with Lisa's recovery. He would have to get used to not having her near him. Could he go into that that place every day knowing she'd died there. Could he continue to work with the people who'd executed her. Only they hadn't. They'd executed a killing machine. Ianto reached his decision.

"I'll take option two Jack."

"If that's the way you want it."

"It is. I think."

Jack smiled. It was a genuine smile, which told Ianto that no grudge would be held in the long run. He smiled back, somewhat weakly, but with warmth.

"That just leaves us one problem," Jack told him. "What to do with tonight and the rest of the nights this week."

"What do you mean?"

"Owen says you shouldn't be left alone."

"He's afraid I'll commit suicide." Ianto stated.

"Something like that."

The two men sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while. Ianto didn't want a babysitter but knew he had no choice in the matter.

"You can stay on the sofa if you must," he conceded, grudgingly.

"Okay. You hungry?"

Ianto realised for the first time that he was ravenous and told Jack as much. The Captain pulled his phone out.

"I'll get us a couple of Pizza's."

A week had passed since Lisa's death. It was 10:30 at night and Ianto was sitting alone on the Plas, nursing a mug of tea, which had gone cold about an hour ago. Jack had given him the option of deciding for himself where his future lay, following a week of seeing how things went. It was now time to decide. With the exception of Jack, who'd been behaving normally, everyone had been pussy-footing around him for the whole week. They were very careful of what they said and did around him. He hadn't been much better himself. His usual dry sarcasm had been absent. Jack had tried to goad a few witticisms from him, but failed utterly. Even the captain's ever-present innuendo had fallen on fallow ground.

Ianto had spent the previous seven days feeling incredibly guilty. Not only for the chaos he'd caused, but also because he wasn't feeling the grief he should over Lisa. Of course, he was deeply saddened at her loss, he'd loved her. Now though, he was beginning to realise that the last few months had been one, long grieving process. All the time he'd spent in the basement, talking to Lisa and arranging for help, he'd actually been saying goodbye. Something in his subconscious must have known there was no hope. A young couple walked past him, hand in hand. They were oblivious to the world around him. He and Lisa used to be like that. They used to spend their lunchtimes walking in the park, too much in love to worry about food. Ianto smiled at the memory, his first truly happy smile he'd had for a while. He enjoyed the feeling.

Ianto was suddenly joined on his bench by a man who was more than a little worse for wear. He could practically see the alcohol fumes rising from him.

"Cheer up," the newcomer wheezed. "It might never happen."

"It's up to me whether it does or not," Ianto told him, almost mournfully.

"Wow. It sounds like there's a story there."

Ianto regarded the drunken man with interest. He could so easily tell him everything, then Retcon him afterwards. He decided against it.

"I made a huge mistake at work which almost destroyed the company," he said eventually. "My boss has left it up to me as to whether I should quit or not."

"He sounds like a decent guy."

"He is." Not for the first time, Ianto wondered why he was still alive.

"So, what are you gonna do?"

"I'm not sure."

The drunken man stood up unsteadily and belched loudly.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts."

He staggered off but Ianto wasn't alone for long. He jumped slightly as an RAF greatcoat was draped over his shoulders. Jack sat beside him and handed over a thermos flask.

"It's freezing out here," he said. "And I reckon that tea is also cold."

Ianto accepted the flask gratefully. "You haven't Retconned it already have you?"

"That would be a bit premature. You haven't told me your decision yet."

He gave Ianto a hopeful look. Jack wanted him to stay but didn't want to influence him either.

"What's the feeling of the rest of the team?"

"I wouldn't know," lied Jack.

"Come of it, Sir," Ianto scoffed. "You can't tell me that the four of you haven't mentioned it to each other."

Jack had to concede the point. He'd actually gone to each of the team in turn to garner their opinion. Toshiko had enormous sympathy for Ianto. She didn't want him to leave. Jack had asked her whether she still trusted their troubled colleague. To her own shame, Tosh hesitated slightly before saying yes. She owned up to having tiny doubts at the back of her mind but was sure they would disappear with time. Gwen had forgiven Ianto almost as soon as it had happened. After all, she'd reasoned, he hadn't personally tried to kill her. Owen's reaction had taken Jack completely by surprise. The medic was still very angry and couldn't promise not to have a go at Ianto over it. However, Owen confessed to not holding a grudge.

"What about you, Sir?" Ianto asked.

"I want you to stay," Jack told him. "You're damn good at your job, which makes mine easier."

"Is that the only reason? I make things easier for you."

For reasons he didn't fully comprehend, Ianto was annoyed at the Captain's statement. Jack was sensitive enough to pick up on the negative vibe.

"Don't take that the wrong way Yan," he said hurriedly. "You keep the hub running and I'm not going to deny that I have a thing for you but I don't want that to sway your decision."

The two of them sat watching the people walking by them for a while. Jack couldn't read Ianto at all at this point. He had no idea which way it was going to go. Finally, Ianto said;

"I want to stay."

"I'm glad," replied Jack with a brief smile. "However, I have a new rule."

Ianto was expecting something like this. He understood he would have to re-earn everyone's trust.

"I was gonna restrict your access to certain Torchwood systems," Jack continued. "But, that would make the running of the place almost impossible. Instead, I want a daily report of all your movements within the hub and anything work related outside of it."

"Okay," Ianto murmured. The shame showed in his eyes but he accepted the new rule without argument.

"It's only for three months," Jack consoled him.

"Anything else Sir?"

"Yeah. Can you quit it with the Sir? My name is Jack."

Ianto shrugged. "I'll try."

Jack patted Ianto on the shoulder. The younger man tensed at the touch, but only for a moment. The gesture told Jack that their personal relationship was going to take some work, from both of them.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"No. I just want to go home. I'm bloody freezing."