Kate's Note: I'm very truly sorry for the wait for this. I've been so busy since I started my new job

Jack: And dealing with annoying co-workers

Kate: That too. But here we are. I'd like to thank the wonderful Tylluan for the encouragement (by which I mean I was asked nicely and Tylluan posted up a new chapter of 'Cardiff 2135 AD', you should go and read it now)

Jack: There's more action in that story

Kate: You WANT me to write you back onto the scrapheap? I can do that.

Jack: I'll be good!

A few days had passed since Ianto's first true day as a reaper, now coming up for the weekend, Ellandanen had unearthed the key for his old flat in the library basement and Rio had offered to help empty it out – Ianto had heard Jack making a comment to her about her 'wanting to find her underwear before I find it, huh?' which had resulted in her elbowing him hard in the gut.

Other than that, it was quite calm. The flat was bigger than expected, but typically of Ellandanen, understatedly elegant, even in the stonework of the walls…despite the place being filled with boxes of alphabetised books

And it wasn't just books. There were boxes of various types and grades of paper, files of paperwork, library records of purchases and new books, spare library card application forms from several centuries previous, a stack of wooden folding chairs, posters promoting reading still in their cardboard tubes and pretty much everything else that 'Danen didn't have room for upstairs.

"He always this much of a pack-rat?" Jack asked, opening a box curiously, it turned out to be filled with what looked like collected diaries

"No information is invaluable," Rio responded, stacking up tubes of old posters

Ianto was moving the chairs from blocking up a doorway "Where are we going to put these?"

There was a small problem with emptying the flat - finding places for all its contents.

In the end the chairs were moved upstairs, and 'Danen set about arranging them carefully as extra seating in the library, and it wasn't long before people were using them.

That still left boxes and boxes of things that didn't really have a space in the library. Shelf space was finite, and 'Danen accumulated books faster than the Council granted planning permission for extensions to the buildings. The elf was usually planning another wing before the previous was even completed.

"Some of these posters are older than you are, Jack," Rio told him as she unrolled one, curiosity having got the better of her. The one in particular she was holding was written in Old Elfish. Knowing 'Danen that was probably the only reason he was holding onto it.

"Talking of old, have you seen this? And is it supposed to be glowing?" Jack had found a large wooden chest, bolted securely shut, a faint blue glow escaping from where the lid met the box. It looked old enough to predate the columns and the ancient roots of the building. It also didn't look Elvish at all.

"I wouldn't touch that," Ianto said warily, he didn't like the aura coming from it.

"Never saw that when we lived down here," Rio said, but didn't make an attempt to approach the box

"I think it's probably grimoires" Added Ianto. "'Danen should probably deal with it." If the strange geometricised monsters carved on the chest were anything to go by, opening the box was a bad idea.

"Could be Pandora's Box" Suggested Jack. He'd noticed a golden fleece being used as a throw on the couch. It had been squashed under layers of boxes.

"All the more reason to leave it alone, yes?" the reaper-girl, then did a convincing double take as she looked up, "are those my knickers on the door?" she said as if to herself

"I didn't put them there" answered Jack, giving a lace doily stuck on a coat hook intrigued glances; both reapers took the opportunity to surreptitiously move the box out of Jack's way. Some things were not to be messed with and Ellandanen likely had a good reason to put it down here.

Thankfully, Jack's sometimes-short attention span was on their side, and he soon found something else to amuse him for a few minutes

"Looks like The Doctor visited Avalon! Look!" Jack had found an old newspaper, old enough to practically be dust. "I swear, it's him."

"Let me see?" Rio held out a hand for the old article, the picture showed an old man in a blue velvet suit and a frilled cravat at his throat.

"Interesting dress sense," Ianto said, looking over her shoulder

"Says the man in the suit," she teased gently, "I can't say I know him, this is dated before I came here. 'Danen might remember though…is that him there?" she pointed to the pre-teen elfling in the grainy black and white photo

Ianto read the caption. "It isn't - it's his nephew - the bloke who runs the coffee shop."

Rio peered more closely, summoned up her glasses and looked again, "oh right, very similar looking to him…in which case, 'Danen will definitely remember"

The article got put to one side as they continued cleaning up

It turned out that spiders in Avalon turned out to be about the same size as spiders in the Amazon, but could actually be convinced to leave quietly - rather Jack and Ianto did it as it turned out Rio was arachnophobic; a few more hours and the flat was liveable again, 'Danen even showed up with Riaden strapped securely to his front and a tray of tea and muffins in a spare hand.

"I thought you might want refreshments".

"Thank you," Ianto said gratefully, even for a being who couldn't get thirsty anymore, he was feeling parched and still hadn't got past thinking he was hungry.

Jack, meanwhile plucked the child from the elf man's front, this was his first time of seeing the reaper-girl and the elf's baby properly and he was curious.

Riaden cooed and dribbled a bit.

"He takes after you, Rio," he said, holding the boy at arm's length

"Flurgpuh?" the elfling said obliviously

"Gets his conversational skills from his father though," she responded lightly, wiping Riaden's face with a cloth, as Ianto and 'Danen went about the serious business of pouring tea, "you're just upset he's not old enough to think you're sexy"

"Rio, I think you have me confused with those strutting peacocks in the square."

"No, I don't think so…come here you," this last part was aimed at the elfing as she took him from the immortal, "come sit with mama while everyone has something to drink"

"The tea's not bad," Ianto told them, already having started on his own drink (The dust got everywhere, it very uncomfortable to have dust in your throat)

"Not the same as human tea."

'Danen looked askance. "They make tea from humans? - is that not cannibalism?"

"That's not what I meant..." Started Ianto in response before he figured this was 'Danen's sense of humour. Or at least attempted sense of humour.

"I'll have to remember to buy some teabags the next time I'm on Old Earth, or maybe I'll buy some Weasel Coffee" the reaper-girl said from where she was sat on a remaining box, between Ellandanen, on an old and faded but comfortable high backed chair, and Jack, who'd taken up residence on what looked like a footstool; holding the elfling firmly on her lap with one hand and drinking tea with the other, "it's looking much better in here, isn't it?"

Ianto had thought it fairly big before the boxes were removed, but now that they had virtually all gone and the space was cleared, it was actually quite remarkable how large the elf's old apartment was.

"If these walls could talk," Jack said with a somewhat leery grin, "They'd say: Shhhhhh …and it'd echo quite a bit"

When the library was built, Avalon had no shortage of space and no shortage of materials, so a large apartment had been seen as no extravagance, but times had changed, and the elves, as longievitous as they were, had slowly increased in numbers until there was pressure for space within the enclave.

Ianto was very lucky not be being charged rather high rent for such a place.

"Memories, huh, 'Danen?" Rio said sweetly to her librarian, "I slept in here the first night we met, you were too polite to make me sleep on the sofa," she looked to Ianto, "seeing him all cramped up on the sofa, well, it'd just melt your heart"

Ellandanen twitched

"I think he's blushing," Ianto said, looking carefully at the elf, after a few Terra-weeks of living with him, Ianto had started to pick up on Ellandanen's body language, the man barely went pink when blushing, he'd found

Well, not for minor blushing. Anything REALLY embarrassing turned him the most ridiculous shade of puce.

"Sorry, meu coração," Rio apologised, "didn't mean to embarrass you too much" (trans: she called him 'my heart' )

Riaden broke any awkwardness by managing to grab Jack's cake - or rather, by sticking little fingers into it as he was about to eat it

Jack sighed and gave a look of consternation. "Fine, have my cake. You've put holes in it now."

"Don't be such a baby, Jack," Ianto smiled teasingly, "I'm sure his hands are clean. Or maybe you could just share it with him?"

"Is he actually old enough to eat cake?"

Ianto suddenly found himself with crumbs in his hair where Riaden threw what was stuck to his fingers at him. (Babies seem to have this throwing stuff phase)

"Honey, no no, that's naughty," Rio chastised the boy softly, "we don't throw things at people," she looked at Jack, "he's only been around you a few days and already he's picking up bad habits" but the words only held teasing

"Is it national 'tease Jack day'?" Jack eyed Riaden warily, expecting cake-based missiles.

That got a laugh, even Riaden laughed but likely only in reaction to everyone else as young children do.

As soon as the tea was drunk and the cakes eaten, it was late afternoon and the flat was mostly emptied out - at least it was liveable now

"So, Ianto, what are you going to do with the place?"

"I don't know…aside from finish dusting it, I don't think there's much to do…except maybe I'll paint the walls cream"

The flat was, in and of itself, quite well decorated anyway and the furniture was quite sturdy and comfortable if antique and in some cases slightly faded.

There was, though, a complete lack of cushions, crockery, cutlery, coffee, kettle, towels, bedding... All the useful things of life had moved with the elf back to his house in the suburbs. Except for a single doily and a lonesome tin opener.

(The tin opener was there on account of Avalon not having tinned food and had been an item of interest Ellandanen had picked up on a visit to Old Earth.)

"And umm…" Ianto continued, "maybe get some appliances and other things," he paused thoughtfully, "actually, can I just make those? Like we do with clothes?"

Rio looked thoughtful, "things like curtains are easy enough, if you've a base material…appliances though…I've never tried"

Jack listened and thought. "If you had a broken... let's say washing-machine, could you guys fix it by magic?"

"That could work, potentially, all the components would be there already, so you wouldn't actually have to create anything, just concentrate on fixing what's broken"

"Then what you need is a broken washing machine and a repair manual"

"And I know for a fact that my elf here," Rio leaned over slightly and rested her head on her husband's shoulder affectionately, "has a manual for practically everything in the library"

"Is it true that the library has several wings that exist in their own private universes because the council's not giving you planning permission to build more?" Jack asked with a titbit of information he'd picked up from overhearing gossips in Avalon's various cafes and inns.

"Not exactly - but we employed an architectural mage to design the last extensions and alter the building, so it is now considerably larger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"Like the Tardis?" Ianto said curiously, "I've heard that's similar"

"Having never been in said 'Tardis', I don't know, but such magical architecture is not impossible and has definitely been done else-where - usually in Draconic buildings - but is rare as the knowledge is very clandestine - the Guild of Architects is a very secretive society - and even I don't have books on it. Being this exclusive, the mages who are masters of said techniques can charge rather a lot. The library had to sell some of its most prized assets to the Imperial Library in Kataka to pay for it." 'Danen looked wounded at the last sentence.

"I'm sorry," the welshman said earnestly and Rio gave Ellandanen a kiss on the cheek to cheer him up slightly, "you mean things like the oldest books?"

"Documents relating to the Cataclysm, pre Cataclysm texts even..." It was rather evident that parting company with said documents had been rather painful. "The Empress even requested translations of certain... things." There was one particular letter that had caused an awful lot of trouble indeed.

"You know Empresses?" now Ianto was truly interested…he'd never officially met any royalty, and wasn't exactly a monarchist but he was still interested to know that a librarian had dealings with an 'empress', it was a much more important-sounding title than 'queen'

"I have had dealings with the Alliance that has precipitated dealings with her Imperial Majesty, yes. Avalon, of course, does not have a monarchy, and we consider such government backward and primitive, but Catriona's nice and although we would rather not see absolute power invested in one person, there is the Alliance who would keep her in check if it ever came to that, and the fact that Catriona is far too nice to ever be a tyrant."

"Nice lady," Rio chimed, "Cares about her kingdom and the surrounding ones. She's very pretty too"

"Is she an elf too?"

"No, Jack, she's a cat-woman'

Jack did not say what he was thinking but rather asked a geographical question. "Does that mean that the catgirls have an Empire? - I haven't seen any around here - are they quite far away?"

"You haven't met Kira?"

"She usually buried under a stack of books"

"She's supposed to be manning the front desk - she's what do they call it - a "people person"." Danen Retorted '

"I've barely met her," Ianto pointed out, "and I've been here longer than Jack has"

"I will have to have words - if she is not greeting and directing readers, then she's not doing what she's supposed to be."

"'Danen…" Rio said softly, a very small hint of warning in her tone, "I'm sure it's just an oversight on her part"

'Danen looked slightly frustrated. "I hope so."

"So…bedding?" Ianto said, trying to move back to the question of outfitting his new flat, "I at least need that for now"

"There's a very good shop for that sort of thing on the intersection between Horizontal Avenue and 7th"

"But if you really need it now…" Rio passed the dozing elfling to his father and opened a cupboard; producing a dustsheet, "try changing that. It'll do until you can get to the shop"

"Ok - I could do with the practice anyway."

She passed it to him and reminded him: "think about what you want it to be…it's a big sheet, it could probably make pillows and a blanket from it, you'll also need to think about fabric. Like when you alter clothes"

Ianto held it and concentrated, staring at it intensely, it changed colour a few times, at one point turning accidentally pinstripe, and then settled on cream, and then turned cream with a pretty brown geometric design at one end.

"Silk," Jack announced, touching the fabric, and giving a sexy-leery grin, "I like it"

Somebody in the room muttered "One track mind" under the breath.

'Danen looked up at the still rather dusty clock on the wall.

This being 'Danen's clock, it had several dials, some for other measurements (Days of the week, phases of the moon, year) and more dials for other locations e.g Kataka, Safira and London'.) But the dial he was looking at was the big enamelled one that read local time. "Time for 'Riaden's afternoon nap."

Rio sighed but it was an affectionate sound, she didn't bother to point out to Ellandanen that Riaden was already sleeping. She did find it adorable that the librarian insisted on trying to keep Riaden to a sort of schedule, so she didn't argue.

"Come on then, we'll take him home," she stood and gently put the sleeping elfling into the holder on Ellandanen's front, "You two," she said to Jack and Ianto, "Have fun. Oh and Jack, if you DO find any of my knickers, they're not keepsakes for you."

"Thank you for your help" Said Ianto to a departing Rio and 'Danen.

"Anytime," Rio grinned and Jack feigned a hurt look at the suggestion of holding onto underwear, "See you"

And just like that, they were gone…………leaving Jack and Ianto completely and totally alone in their own space

This time it was Ianto who pounced Jack; they landed on the sofa, being elfin design it was large enough to accommodate both of them.

Clothing was removed almost instantly, skin against skin, dripping with sweat and warmth, the fleece beneath them was unbelievably soft and it added to the excitement, there were kisses where they forgot to breathe and once more everything boiled down to something that could only be translated as 'good' by the primal parts of the brain.

Ianto, surprisingly, gave Jack an obvious lovebite, making Jack wonder, afterwards, if he had vampiric tendencies and if all the reapers reacted this way…however, one thing hadn't changed: his Welshman still loved to cuddle afterwards and Jack had never seen the need to deny him that (truthfully, he liked it too)

After 2,000 years of chaos and betrayal Jack was looking seriously like he'd actually managed an emotional commitment to another. Survival had brought out the worst in Jack and it looked like immortality might bring out the best.

"Love you" Ianto mumbled against his neck, holding on tightly, almost as if he thought Jack would vanish once he let go

'Love me to death - if you keep strangling me'

"Sorry," he could help but chuckle as he loosened his grip on Jack, "you'd come back, eventually"

"That's not quite the point, is it?"

Ianto only answer was to kiss him

Jack kissed back and pulled Ianto further onto him and not too long afterwards they got lost into that sweetest of oblivions known as 'sleep'

Kate's Note: There should be more action in the next chapter

Jack: I'm offended that you think I'd want to keep Rio's panties.

Kate: So if I told you there were some of her undies in the dryer right now…?

Jack: …………which way is your dryer?

Kate: Thought so (giggles)

Explanations and Translations

Meu coração - 'My Heart' (Portuguese)

Weasel Coffee - Actually something I heard about from Si and Dave's cookery programme (aka The Hairy Bikers) Apparently there's a weasel that eats coffee beans, or the cherries they come from, they only eat the best ones, and…well, nature does its work and someone follows it around and picks through. They wash them thoroughly, rest assured. It's supposed to be very good. You can get Elephant Coffee too.