This chapter is dedicated to FreFre and all the other wonderful people who have been waiting patiently for updates, sorry this update is so short. I needed to get it out as it was because of the next chapter and how things progress and mainly because I've been having a bit of a block lately. As always guys read and review... Enjoy! JD

Chapter Twelve

It was strange being back at school, he was still worried about Derek but now that his foster father was at home he felt a bit better. It had been weird spending time at Ianto's house with his family; they were nice, Jack couldn't deny it, but it just filled him with envy and sadness for all the things he didn't have.

"Morning, Jack" smiled Tosh as she stood at her locker. He waved before going to his own locker and getting the stuff out that he needed for the day, Jack almost jumped out of his skin as he felt arms wrapping around his middle

"Hey, gorgeous. Heard you were playing hookie, not coz of me I hope" Nate whispered in his ear before nuzzling the spot behind it

"I-I... no, my foster father... he was sick. In hospital..." stammered Jack nervously looking round, people were staring, he suddenly felt sick and prayed to god that Yan wasn't watching. Tosh slammed her locker shut and turned round to see Nate draped over Jack pawing the poor boy, she couldn't help but scowl. She knew what Nathan was like; he enjoyed getting into people and then dropping them like a hot potato and now it appeared that's what he had planned for Jack. Well, not on her watch!

"Oh, god... shit, Jack. I'm sorry, I didn't know... is he okay?"

"Yeah we brought him home last night, he just has to take it easy from now on" replied Jack then he shut his locker with a slam and turned round, Nate still had his arms wrapped around the younger teen.

"That's good..." Nathan trailed off, suddenly unsure whether to ask if they were still on for their date

"Did you want something?" asked Jack, smirking internally for sounding nonchalant

"Do you?"

"You want to know about your date. It's still on... that is... oh, you still want to right?"

"Yeah, I do" Nathan nodded as he licked his lips hungrily "I still want you, I think the question is do you still want me?"

"Well I... you know..." he blushed as he stumbled over his words

"You're so cute, Jack" announced Nate finally before tipping his chin and kissing him soundly.

"Ahem" Tosh cleared her throat, Nathan pulled away and to find her glaring at him "Nate, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure" he told her before turning back to Jack "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Um, yeah" nodded Jack and then the two friends walked off leaving him alone.

Tosh rounded the corner, out of sight from Jack, and waited for Nate to come round as well. When he did she pushed him and he stumbled backwards crashing into the lockers

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed

"Wha... It's just a little bit of fun, there's no need to get your panties in a twist!" snapped Nathan angrily

"If it was anyone else then fine, I wouldn't give a crap but it's Jack. He's one of your friends! You don't fuck about with that"

"There's not been any fucking yet" smirked Nate casually, Tosh practically snarled at him

"There won't be any fucking at all! Leave him alone, Nathan... screw anyone but him. He's not ready to handle the games you play"

"I know" he replied, she blinked feeling rather surprised that he'd agreed with her "I'm not going to fuck him and while I am playing a game with him, it's not my normal one. Any idiot can see that he's all eyes for Yan and vice versa... I'm doing them a favour"

"How so? It's not like you. What do you get out of it?"

"I get to wind Ianto up, it's actually fun to see how jealous he gets when I flirt with Jack. You welsh are so sexually repressed, if I were in his shoes I'd be shagging Jack every chance I got"

"I'm not sexually repressed, Mary and I have a very good relationship in that area. I think it's just Ianto... there has to be a reason for him behaving like that. Anyone can see how Jack feels for him, heh everyone can see it but him!"

"When they finally get a clue I'll back off. I've kinda got a thing going on with someone already"

"Really?" smirked Tosh "You have to tell... if you want me to keep quiet about your little plan you have to tell me who it is"

"Okay, but promise me that you won't tell anyone. You have to swear that this won't get out"

"I swear. Now tell me" she grinned

"It's Joel Addams" replied Nate quietly, her grin dropped off her face and was quickly replaced with shock

"You're kidding me!" Tosh gasped "Joel? Are you insane? No, wait... he's recipricating?"

"For the past five months" she shook her head in disbelief. The bell rang effectively ending there conversation about who was doing who

"I want to know every last little detail at lunch"

"Okay" he nodded before they parted ways. When Nate went back round the corner to see if Jack was still there he found that he wasn't. The other American teen had already gone to class.

Jack heard the entire argument between Tosh and Nathan. He wasn't sure how to react at Nathan's obvious disregard to what they had... or were going to have, Jack shook his head anger quickly replacing the shock. He couldn't help but smirk as Tosh defended him and then his eyebrows practically shot up into his hair line when he heard Nate say how much Yan was into him. That couldn't be right, could it? The bell rang and he hurried off before either of them realised he was still there and listening to the entire thing. Nate and Tosh had given him a lot to think about it and it wasn't bad enough that he had a lot on his plate already.

Ianto prowled the halls looking badass, the other students were giving him a wide berth and he was grateful for it. He was still sporting the bruises he'd gotten when Jack's foster father had socked him in the hospital; it was good camouflage for being left alone. All he can think about is the near kiss that he shared with Jack, his mam had practically adopted the American teen and every time Yan had gone round to visit his parents he'd found the younger teen there being spoilt rotten. He'd hadn't spent so much time with his parents since he still lived with them! Even his father had pointed that out!

So now he was back at school and Jack was back at school. The American teen had been lucky to get a few days off while his father was in the hospital; Yan was pretty sure that Tosh had collected Jack's classwork for him. He wanted to see Jack, wanted to talk to him and he wanted to ask about the kiss that had almost happened at the hospital before they were interrupted. He knew that Jack and Nate were starting something but Nate seemed like the type to be a player and a even blind person could see how monumentally fucked up that could be for someone like Jack.

Chuckling caught him off guard, he followed the noise to his left seeing a small group of three teenaged girls staring at something further up the hall, giggling and whispering to themselves. Ianto followed their line of sight and felt his heart drop to his stomach. Nate and Jack were wedged up against the lockers kissing. The anger was red and white hot surging across his vision in pretty dots; he wanted to run away, he wanted to beat Nathan to a bloody pulp. He was frozen as fury gripped him tight unsure whether to go forward or go back; he was tired of running away and he was tired of taking his anger out on people. The knife twisted in his gut when he saw the soppy grin on Jack's face when their mouths parted. Bastard, thought Ianto roughly. He was tired and all there was left was to ignore so that's what he would do. To hell to both of them... he wasn't going to waste anymore time with either of them!

He turned and walked off to class leaving them to it, even more grateful for the bruises on his face keeping people away.

Tosh had no idea what exactly what was going on, their lunch table was quiet and everyone was behaving as if someone had died. Jack looked like he'd crawled deep inside himself and refused to come out any time soon, Ianto had outright refused to sit with them and chosen to sit at an empty table by the window and everyone else was reflecting the tension. She glared at Nathan moodily

"I bet this is all your fault" she hissed at him

"Me? What did I do?" protested Nate, arguing for his innocence

"I don't know but when you play your games shit usually hits the fan and this..." she gestured to the sombre table "This definitely looks like the shit has hit the fan. You need to explain and you need to fix this"

"I already know" whispered Jack from his spot next to her, Tosh fell silent and her glower intensified, if looks could kill then Nate would be six feet under

"Jack I..." began Nathan, suddenly feeling the need to explain himself but Jack shook his head. Biting out an angry retort that was so out of character it dried Nate's words up in his throat

"Don't speak to me. Don't you dare! I've never felt so angry and used before! I'm a foster child, angry and used is pretty much a given!"

"Go fuck yourself" Nathan hissed angry at Jack's words "Oh, poor woe is me Jack"

"Nathan... I love you dearly but if you don't stop talking I'm going to shut you up myself" growled Tosh venomously. Nate threw his hands up in the air in frustration and jerked sharply up from the table. Jack risked a glance at Yan, his vision blurring, before he too rushed from the table heading in the opposite direction. His chest was tight all of a sudden and it was hard to breathe and the worst thing that kept circling his head was that this was all his fault.

Back in the library. Back in the sanctity of safety and the familiar... the last few months felt like one glorious dream that had slowly descended into a nightmare, all Jack wanted to now was to wake up. So that's what he was doing here in his favourite hide away.

Waking up is hard to do when Tosh pops her head around one of the stacks, she's gripping the metal and looking more than a little worried

"You're bloody fast when you want to be" she offered with a small smile, he just shrugged her comment off and tried to shrink further into himself "Sorry. I'm sorry Jack... for everything, for back there, for Nate and for bringing you into my damn stupid group. Seems like I've done more harm than good"

"I-I'm sorry" Jack sobbed as he looked up at her

"Oh, God, Jack! No, you don't have to apologise" she hurried over to him and sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around him.

Ianto watched the argument from his spot near the window out of the corner of his eye. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't watching the argument but God help him he still wanted to look after Jack! He doubted it would fly if he went over to Jack, especially after being such a arsehole towards him, Yan's pride was holding him back. Not to mention the guilt! He was taking the cowards way out but he couldn't bring himself to care about being a coward.

His heart stammered when Nathan jumped from the table and stalked off rather dramatically then a few moments later Jack took off in the opposite direction with Tosh following after him. That should be me, thought Ianto, as he watched her go after the young American. His own sense of masochism got the better of him and he got up to follow his friends.

Yan stood one stack away from them in the library, he could hear Jack crying and Tosh trying to comfort him; all the words that passed between them and he decided that it was enough. All this was enough. Without looking back he left the library and headed to his car.

His father was surprised to see him coming into the shop, especially since it was just a little after lunch time on a school day and Ianto was supposed to be in school.

"Ianto, what are you doing here?" asked Banadel "Why aren't you at school?"

"I want to go to university... I've caught up to how things are here and I'm ready to progress" he explained to his tad

"Leaving school in the middle of the day doesn't really show that, mab" he replied before continuing to shelve the usb wires

"Tad, please" Yan begged, his tone one of desperation that Banadel couldn't ignore. He put the box down on the floor and turned to face his son

"What happened?"

"I need to move on from school, either to go to uni or to get a job. I just..." he shook his as he raised his arms in frustration "Please... It's all gotten too much and I-I need..."

"It's like before?" the older Welshman asked his son. Banadel put both hands on his son's shoulders and tried to give him as much comfort as he could without crowding him.

"Yeah" sighed Ianto looking guilty and ashamed "It is. Tad, you know I wouldn't ask you for this but it's all getting too much"

"Is this about your young man? Jack? We could find you another school..." Yan shook his head as soon as another school was suggested

"No, tad, no more schools. I'm nineteen, I'm too old for school now... I want out of there and if not to college then I'll get a job"

"Alright as much I hate seeing you run from your problems, over the years since it happened you've really forced yourself in things that were uncomfortable or frustrating and your mam and I are proud of you for that. I'll talk to your mam about all this, put in a good word for you. Why don't you go upstairs and think about what you're going to do" he winked and Ianto smiled with relief

"Thanks tad" he mumbled with a nod of his head, he patted his father's right hand where it rested on his shoulder.

TBC...