Set between Adam and Reset in Season 2. Part 6/6 (Complete). Jack/Ianto, Ianto/Owen. Word count: 5,579 (21,970 total). Spoilers for seasons 1-3, and a number of the audio books, novels, and radio dramas. Rated M for Mature.

Note: While I whole-heartedly ship Janto (TheirloveissoFTW), I have a deep infatuation with hookups between Ianto and Owen. I just couldn't write this story without one, so that's why my tags keep switching between Ianto/Jack and Ianto/Owen.

Other notes: A few sequels are in the works (And yes, there will be far more Ianto/Jack in the future pieces). Sorry this has taken so long: *Insert boring life details here*. Feedback is to ficcers like water is to plants. I am being cocky+artsy and posting this without a re-read (A fact I will probably regret later when it's not 3am), but I think this chapter incorporated everything I wanted it to at this point. If anything doesn't make sense, or if you think I should take this down and do a re-edit, I'd love to hear it.

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"... sedate..."

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"...bleeding..."

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"...mostly..."

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"...convulsing..."

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Ianto found himself laying on his side and drifting in and out of consciousness. He was so damn tired, and he didn't quite know where or when he was. The voices around him, though, were comforting and familiar, so he let himself sleep.

"...that you should talk to them when they're in a coma."

Jack's words were different than the others' had been. His voice was closer, and Ianto was sure he could feel the warm breath from his captain's lips brushing against the small hairs in his sideburns. It felt nice. Comforting. Warm and good. He only caught pieces of what Jack was saying, but even still, the tone was getting through.

"...to know you're not alone. We're all waiting for you to wake up, Ianto. We miss you." Jack dropped closer to brush their lips together. "Come back to me."

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It was quiet for a long time after that. Ianto could hear the machines, but little else. Someone was moving about in the room around him, sliding on a chair across the floor from one desk to the other. The tap of a pencil on the table... Likely Owen, then. Thinking as he worked.

"How is he?" Tosh asked from somewhere above him, and Ianto noticed a bit of a breeze from that direction. Observation? That meant he was most likely in the autopsy bay, and Tosh was standing above, looking down at them. Just like Ianto watched Tosh when she was bleeding to death. Would watch. Might watch?

Ianto blacked out for another brief moment, and when he heard her again, Tosh was standing next to where he'd heard Owen.

"…what Jack wants," Tosh was finishing.

"I don't care what Captain Jack-Bloody-Harkness wants." Owen was raising his voice, but after a pause to consider that they might be disturbing Ianto where he was sleeping, he hissed, "It's not safe."

"But with everything he saw... You said yourself that the wounds on his back weren't that severe. He should be awake by now..."

"He should be, yeah. But we're talking about implanted memories, Tosh. There's no telling how much Recon we would need to cover everything he's seen. How much would we need to erase? Are we talking about years, or months, or decades?" Owen signed in frustration. "And even if we knew how much to give him, we still don't know how to gear it towards the implanted memories."

"What do you mean?" Gwen's voice drifted down to join the others, making Owen sigh again.

"Well, say he's been given 10 years of memories, so we give him enough Retcon to make him forget ten years. What if, instead of the fake memories, it wipes out his own. At best, he'd forget everything he's ever known about Torchwood. At worse..." Owen left the suggestion hanging in the air, knowing that their own imaginations could provide a better idea than his words.

"Owen!" Jack bellowed angrily from somewhere in the hub. "A word. Now."

Ianto heard Gwen's boots scooting away on the landing above, and couldn't blame her. He felt himself shrinking down inside at the tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Owen said, knowing he was about to be chewed out for trying to turn the girls against their illustrious captain. He stomped up the stairs and into the main hub where he and Jack had a row.

Ianto could make out words like 'future' and 'dangerous' and 'life' and 'memories'. He wanted to block them out almost as much as he wanted to block out their voices in his head. Clenching his eyes as tight as he could keep them shut, he lifted his hands to cover his ears. If he could cover them tight enough, maybe everything would just go away.

"Yanto?"

Tosh's voice was soft, but her face was right in front of his when he opened his eyes. Her eyes were large and concerned, but everything was too bright so he shut them.

"Are you in pain?" Tosh sounded so concerned. Her hand was on his shoulder and she was about to call out for someone to come to them.

"Too loud," he said softly. Then he curled tighter on himself.

"Sorry," she whispered.

He opened his eyes again to look at her, and could feel the tears dripping from them. They slid down his cheeks and dropped on the pillow under his head. It was cold in the autopsy room, and everything about Ianto was either tingling if not in pain. He felt guilty about being concerned about his own health though, when he'd watched Tosh die right there. Selfish.

"You're very pale, Ianto. I'm going to go get Owen..."

"No," Ianto said quickly, grabbing for her arm. "I'm fine. Please... Just... stay here with me?" He forced a smile at her, but his eyes were still dancing with tears.

"You're crying," she whispered in argument.

Crying. Of course he was crying. "I saw you... I... Please just stay." He didn't want to beg, but he also didn't want to be alone. When he was alone, he had a hard time figuring out what was real and what wasn't. When he couldn't hear them, it was hard to remember that they were still alive. His hand closed tighter on Tosh's arm.

She smiled at him then, concern colouring her gaze, but pulled up a chair. She sat so they were looking at each other on the same level, and smiled at him, and Ianto told himself that everything would be alright. Tosh was alive, not... Not...

Ianto cried himself back to sleep that morning.

When he woke up later, he could see Gwen asleep in Tosh's chair, head pooled on a pillow on the table beside him. He smiled at Gwen... Sweet Gwen, the survivor. She would marry Rhys, and be happy, and... Ianto felt a great nausea overwhelm him briefly, but managed to keep it together.

The administrator sat up, managing not to disturb Gwen. He wondered how she could just sit there, with her head on the table where so many people had laid. Dead. God, so much death.

So much death, and Ianto couldn't deal with it anymore. He couldn't keep thinking about it. Quietly, he turned off the monitors that had been beeping around them, and removed the electrodes. Grabbing Owen's labcoat to keep warm over his johnny gown, he padded across the room on bare feet and snuck up the stairs.

Everyone was so distracted by what was going on with Ianto that they didn't actually notice him. It was an irony that Ianto appreciated both because of the humour, and because it allowed him to easily nick some spare clothes from his desk without being spotted.

No one was in the main hub area but he could hear Owen and Jack arguing in Jack's office. Again. Possibly still.

They both had points, Jack and Owen. Owen the doctor, and Jack the great captain of Torchwood 3. A part of Ianto appreciated the professionalism, but a larger part longed for them to care because they actually cared about him as a person.

Anti-Retcon: The dosage was up in the air, and not knowing the proper dosage could be very dangerous. That combined with the medications Owen had him on to dull the pain in his back spelled very real trouble for Ianto. Plus, after what happened between Suzie and Max, could they really subject Ianto to more Retcon so soon.

Pro Retcon: Ianto knowing the future was dangerous. No one should know everything they would experience. No one should know how they would die before it happened.

Ianto gasped suddenly, nearly falling over, but managing instead to steady himself on a chair. His death. He died. He saw it, and remembered it, and could feel it spreading in him like ice water. Without thinking, Ianto slipped Owen's labcoat back on over his hot pink dress shirt, and made his way towards the tunnels that would lead out to the parking garage. He needed to get out of there. He just needed to run away.

"You don't know what you're talking about! I'm trying to protect my patient!" Owen yelled at Jack from across his desk.

"Jack," Gwen said softly from the door. "Owen."

"You've got no idea what that sort damage he could do! They left him alone for a reason, because history has to go the way they saw it. If he does anything to mess that up..."

"Jack," Gwen said again, softly from the door.

"Ianto's a big boy. He can-"

"We're talking about a paradox here, Owen. Trust me when I tell you we do not want to be at the center of that sort of thing."

"We-"

"Jack!" Gwen yelled, cutting off the tired argument that she was, quite frankly, sick of listening to anyway. When both men turned to look at her, finally acknowledging her presence, she sighed gently and said, "He's gone."

"What?" Owen said.

"I thought you were watching him!" Jack said, pushing up from the desk and shifting quickly to where his jacket hung on the rack.

Gwen looked embarrassed and a bit shy, unable to make eye contact as she said, "I fell asleep."

Jack pressed his lips together and glared before moving past her. "Tosh!" he bellowed, staring Gwen down in a way that clearly said they would have words later.

Tosh looked up from her computer to where Jack was coming down the stairs. "It doesn't look like his car's moved from the parking garage, but I have a trace on his phone. He's headed out toward Lisvane."

Jack blinked, trying to figure out what Ianto would be doing heading there. He didn't have any family there, no friends... Jack couldn't see a reason for Ianto to go there. Unless it was something he'd seen in the visions of the future. Something that would make Ianto sneak out of the Hub alone, without telling any of them where he was going or what he was up to.

Jack set his jaw. If Ianto created a paradox around him, there was no telling what would happen. They could lose him for good. "Tosh, with me." He set a glare back at Gwen as a reminder that he was still pissed just then, and then turned it to Owen. "I want that dosage figured out, and ready to go by the time I get back." He pointed at Owen like he was punching a period in the air in front of them. As far as Jack was concerned, he'd just ended their argument. Definitively.

Without waiting for a response, he swept out of the room.

"Bollocks," Owen muttered.

Half way up the street he'd realized that Jack would come looking for him. He wasn't ready to be dragged back to the Hub to be tested and probed. Not yet. So he'd dumped the receiver in his mobile into the first pickup that went by.

Ianto wasn't looking forward to the chewing out from Owen and Jack. Especially Owen... The Londoner was bound to be pissed Ianto had walked off with not only his lab coat, but his car keys and wallet as well. Which of course had lead to Ianto driving off in his car...

The last part wasn't his fault though, really. He'd gotten to the parking garage and realized that while his phone had been in his trousers he didn't have his car keys. No, those were still on a hook up in the Tourist office. Old habits and all that.

At first, Ianto had thought he'd wanted quiet. But then, when he got it, it was worse than all the noise he could imagine. Left alone, there was nothing but voices in his head. Memories. He remembered Tosh and Owen dying. He remembered James and Adam disappearing without a trace.

Wait, who were James and Adam? And why did he get such a blasted headache when he tried to remember them?

Ianto decided they were probably people he just hadn't met yet, and decided not to think about them. He should try not to think about the future, after all. He could make things worse, and that wasn't what running was about. What Ianto needed was just some time to clear his head. Just a bit of time.

He had no idea how he ended up at the pub. He and Rhys had gone in there a few times to watch the game. Or, they would go in there. They could go in there?

Ianto's head hurt, so he slid onto a bar stool and ordered a bottomless glass of scotch. That probably wasn't any better of an idea than Retcon with the medication he was on either, but he decided he didn't care. Besides, with the dull ache that was creeping up his back, he was pretty sure it was wearing off anyway.

It was about an hour later that Ianto heard a voice he recognized, cutting through the amber haze the scotch was wrapping him in.

"Ianto?"

Ianto turned his head to gaze at the sound of his name to see Rhys' big blue eyes in such wide surprise that the gentle laugh lines normally creasing the edges were completely stretched out.

"It is you, isn't it? Your mates are going off your rocker lookin' for you. Gwen is going to take a piss when she finds out you're here. I..." Rhys paused, noticing the way Ianto was paling at his comments. "Are you alright? Gwen said you'd been hurt and you disappeared from the, uh, hub..." He whispered the last word, very secretly.

Ianto offered a reassuring smile. "All better now. Just a lot on my mind."

Rhys looked over at Dav at their table who had his hands up in question, and then slid on the stool next to Ianto. "Yeah?"

Ianto stared at his drink. "Yeah. You made me my last dinner, you know."

"I what?"

"Baked beans instead of sex. Quite the tradeoff." He laughed, tears on his lashes. "I'm glad, for you and Gwen." Ianto looked over at Rhys, remembering the nights when the four of them had hit the pub. Rhys who was always there when Gwen needed him. "I'm glad you're together." He smiled. "You make her laugh, and she needs that in her life. You make her happy just when I don't think she'll ever smile again. You're a good guy..."

"You're hammered, Mate." Looking at him, Rhys didn't expect Ianto would be an 'I love you, man' drunk.

Ianto suddenly looked crest fallen, staring Rhys in the eyes. He shook his head a little, trying to come up with a way to explain things. "I watched... I watched people I love die today." He lifted his hand and ran his fingers back through his hair. Lost. Dizzy. Scared. Alone. Cold. "I just... Needed to get away from the mothering, yeah?"

Rhys completely understood; Gwen could be a pest when she decided someone needed to be 'mothered' as Ianto had called it. He set a hand on his shoulder squeezed. It was only then he noticed the spot of red against the pink on Ianto's back. He sighed and said, "Look, I'll be right back, yeah? Don't go anywhere."

Ianto nodded and turned back to staring at his drink.

Rhys set the beers he'd been sent to get on the table. "About time! Looked like you were trying to pull that bloke."

"Don't be foolish, Dav! I'm an engaged man." Rhys smiled and picked up his cell, dialing Gwen's number. "Hallo, love!" he said as he excused himself from the table and found a quiet place to talk.

"Rhys... I'm sorry, I don't know when I'll be home. I-"

The way Gwen could go from a complete smile to an utter apology with her tone in the span of seconds always amazed Rhys. Too much practice, he supposed. But there wasn't really any time for that, or any need just then. "I know... Saving the world and looking after your team. Listen, is your doctor around?"

Concern leapt to the foreground of her tone. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, of course." Rhys smiled, and then said softer, "I just need to ask him a question. About a friend?"

Gwen yelled for Owen, covering the mouthpiece of the phone with her shoulder, but he could still hear it. "You're sure you're alright? If you need me..."

"I'm fine, love. Promise. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah," she said softly. Then he heard her pass the discussion to Owen, explaining that Rhys had a question for him.

After a brief conversation, Owen came on the line. "Owen Harper here."

"Yeah, Owen. It's Rhys. Gwen's boyfriend? Listen, I'm standing in a pub, looking at a bloke with a bit of a back wound, pounding back scotch like it's going to run out, and I thought, 'that can't be a good thing to mix with whatever pain killers his doctor has him on'."

Owen blinked, wondering if Rhys was drunk, and if this was the sort of phone call he could expect now that Rhys knew the truth about what Gwen did. He sighed, and put on his most professional and polite voice-it would be easier than taking the piss out of him and dealing with Gwen's wrath later-and said, "Yeah. Pain killers and alcohol are not normally a good combination."

Gwen stopped staring at him with her big concerned eyes when she heard that. Rhys wasn't on any pain killers, so she knew it wasn't about him.

"Yeah, well, I didn't even see the blood at first. Doesn't show up all that well through the dress shirt. Who wears fancy bright pink shirts to a pub-do anyway?"

Owen blinked. Was Rhys getting at what he thought Rhys was getting at? "I can think of someone," he muttered suspiciously.

"Thought you might do. Listen, I know your lot is concerned and out looking for him right now, but he said he lost some friends today, and just needed some alone time. I wouldn't have called, but the blood..."

"No, you did good." Owen was grabbing his kit and looking for his keys. "Where are you?"

"At the sports pub up the street from St. Mary's."

"I know it. Can you keep him there until I get there?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Cheers." Owen hung up the phone. "I need your keys," he said to Gwen.

Gwen's eyes got concerned again. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Fine. I think Ianto nicked my keys when he left." He frowned.

"Oh. Yeah, I'll get Jack to drive me home after. You can... leave them with Rhys?"

She was fishing, and Owen knew it. He wasn't going to give her any sort of clues, though. "Yep," he agreed as he took the keychain she was holding up. "Thanks."

Twenty minutes later, Owen was walking through the door. He spotted Ianto immediately at the bar-Rhys was right: most men didn't wear that colour, and especially not to a sports pub-and headed over to join him.

"This seat taken, mate?"

Ianto's head shot up, like he was hearing a voice from beyond the grave. His eyes darted about before falling on Owen's face, and then he spilt in a shit-eating grin. "Owen!" Before Owen could respond, Ianto was grabbing his face in both hands, and staring into his eyes.

After an awkward moment, Owen said, "Look, mate, if you're going to kiss me, there's more romantic ways to go about it."

Ianto laughed a great and honest laugh. Then he frowned, dropping his hands and going back to cradling his drink. He paused only a moment before shooting it down. "Owen... I don't feel good."

Owen couldn't help but smile, just a little. "Imagine, the way you're tossing back."

"No, it's not that. It's..." Ianto looked at him, all seriousness. "I saw you die today."

That startled Owen a little, but didn't really surprise him; Ianto had been shown the future. Of course he would have seen some deaths.

"I saw you... bleeding. Laying in Tosh's arms." Tears began to fall down his cheeks. "They were all begging you not to die, but you wouldn't listen..." He swallowed. "There was... There was so much blood, everywhere, Owen. Do you know how much blood a human body holds?" He blinked. "Look who I'm talking to. Of course you know."

"Ianto, listen..." Owen sighed. "Look, you're bleeding. I think you might have popped some of your stitches. Let me take you-"

"Not going back to the hub. Too loud. Too cold."

Ianto pouted like a petulant child, and Owen growled his frustration. "Fine. I'll take you back to mine. Comeon."

It took a good hour to find his car, get Ianto into the passenger seat, and then up the stairs to his flat. It was another twenty to fix the stitching, and redo the plasters. It wasn't until he had the Welshman washed up, and slipped into his bed that he picked up his phone to call Gwen.

After explaining that yes, Ianto was alright, and no, he wouldn't be returning to the Hub until he'd had some proper rest, and yes, Owen would make sure he was comfortable and safe-what sort of doctor did Gwen take him for?-Owen finally went back to check on Ianto.

"You're bed's pretty comfortable," Ianto said. For the first time that evening, his words weren't slurred.

"Yeah, it's all in the sheets. But I'm sure I don't have to tell you about fine fabrics."

Ianto smiled at the joke, but then got a sad look in his eyes. The silence that lingered was awkward. Until Owen said, "Right. Keep in mind this is a one night only thing, yeah? Don't get to used to those sheets." He smiled a tight smile. "Well, I'm going to camp out on the sofa til morning."

"Owen... Could you... Do you mind..." Owen didn't make Ianto's request any easier by understanding his meaning without explanation, but Ianto decided it was important enough to him to word fully. "Could you stay?" At Owen's surprise, Ianto explained, "It's just, I don't really want to be alone right now. Every time I close my eyes..."

Owen sat down on the side of the bed. Then, he kicked off his boots, and slipped off his belt. He emptied his pockets of the retrieved wallet and keys, and then he lay down on top of the blankets next to Ianto, surprising himself with the small act of kindness.

Ianto rolled onto his back, but when the pain shot up his back he rolled back onto his side to face Owen. He closed his eyes, but then they flashed open again. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw something terrible. "D'you know," he started. Maybe he could talk himself into sleeping. "Do you know why it let me go?"

"Jack said they decided you were too important to the future. That you weren't done doing all the things you were supposed to do." Owen kept the same whispered tone.

"Right." He paused. "Do you know what it was that I did that they decided was so important?" At Owen's silence, Ianto pursed his lips into a fake smile, evident by the tears back on his short lashes. "I died."

"Did you die saving the planet, or something?"

Ianto closed his eyes, and shook his head, just once. "No. Nothing so extravagant. Jack decided he could do what was necessary to save everyone because I had died."

"Yanto," Owen said softly, pausing when Ianto opened his eyes again. They were so blue in the moonlight that came in from his large windows, the tears making them shine and reflect.

"Some time, in the next... few years or so... These aliens will come to Earth. They demand 10% of the world's children just be handed over to them, or else they were going to destroy everyone."

"That's madness," Owen whispered.

"No, what's madness is that the world's leaders decided to agree." Owen stared at him, astonished by what he was hearing. Ianto smiled at him. "I convinced Jack that we needed to stand up to them, so that's what we went to do." Ianto laughed a little. "I was so happy when he agreed... Me and Jack, standing there, telling these aliens that they could take their offer and stuff it, because we were going to stop them... I was so proud of him. And so angry at them."

Owen was completely lost in Ianto's eyes, his words, his story. "What happened," he whispered.

"They... Filled the building with a poisonous gas, and killed everyone in it. Because of us... Because we dared to say no." The tears leaked straight down his face, dripping off the edge and onto the pillow. He looked so miserable. So... guilty. "Jack pleaded with them to save me. But they didn't. They said it was his lesson, for disobeying them. They said that we would all die, and then the world leaders would give them the children."

Owen didn't ask what they wanted the children for; he didn't want to know. He reached over and stroked Ianto's arm, comforting him through the sheets. "How do you know all of this? "

"I saw it. It was filmed, Owen. I died... in Jack's arms... on camera, for the whole world to see." He clenched his eyes shut, and laughed through a sob. "If you think about it, it was actually kind of romantic." Except for the part where Jack never told him he loved him. But that was just something Jack never said. Ever. And Ianto could accept that, knowing just what it meant for Jack Harkness to love someone.

"Yeah. Sure." Owen reached out and brushed Ianto's tears back, running his thumb over his cheekbone, and down the angle of his nose. "Now that you know, you could change it... Fix it so you have an antidote, or a gas mask?" The thought of Ianto dying like that... It just didn't sit right. If Owen were there, he'd make sure that it didn't happen like that. He'd make sure that Jack didn't get him killed like that.

"No. No, it has to happen like that, Owen. It has to happen exactly how I saw it happen. Too many lives are at stake."

Owen closed his eyes and leaned closer, so that their foreheads were touching. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Ianto felt guilty then, but stayed silent.

Owen clenched his eyes tighter. "It's because it doesn't matter, isn't it. Because I'm not going to be there." He felt Ianto nod against his forehead, and then felt a cool shiver up his spine. Forcing a light tone, he asked, "Is it painless, at least? Quick?"

Ianto thought about all those months of torture that Owen went through. He thought about how Owen couldn't do any of the things he loved, and how he'd walked around dying a little more each day. He thought about how Owen couldn't feel, or taste, or fuck, or sleep, and it broke his heart.

Swallowing at the lingering silence, Owen tried again. "Was it heroic, at least?"

Opening his eyes, Ianto smiled sadly at his friend. They were both crying, both afraid, both a little lost. "Yeah. Yeah, you died a hero, Owen."

When Owen started to ask him another question, Ianto lunged forward and captured the doctor's lips with his own. He expected to be pushed back, but instead Owen grabbed both of his shoulders, and held him closer. They stayed like that, kissing and frantically trying to use the contact to wipe all of their thoughts and feelings away for a few minutes before one of them finally broke the kiss.

Neither knew which it was, but Ianto would have suspected it to be Owen. He hadn't the presence of mind on his own just then to consider the repercussions of his actions. "Owen," he whispered. His hands slid up under the doctor's shirt, pushing it up and back.

"Just for tonight," Owen repeated.

Ianto closed his eyes, and gratitude rolled from him. Owen didn't know if it was because they were going to fuck, no strings attached, or if it was because they were simply going to fuck. He didn't have time to consider before Ianto was back against his lips again, fingers deftly working at Owen's jeans and shorts.

They fucked for hours, enjoying each other's bodies, touching and exploring without concern for consequence. The interesting thing that Ianto had learned to do with his tongue-presumably from Jack-led to Owen completely accepting that Ianto was the leader of this particular show, and the way Owen arched back on the bed when he came had Ianto finally understanding the real raw beauty that Dr. Harper presented to the world.

It was raw, and passionate, and something Owen didn't think he could ever forget. He most especially enjoyed being had against the window in his front room, though the blowjob he gave the archivist as the latter was making coffee was a close second. It was possibly also the worst coffee Ianto had ever made, which stunned Owen (And which Ianto blamed wholeheartedly on the lack of decent beans, not the distraction because he was a professional and could work with a distraction, thank you very much.).

There was a touch of regret in the air that they were only planning on a single night of this. Which was probably why he insisted on following Ianto to the shower to 'make sure he didn't get his stitches wet', and more than likely why a very professional concern turned into a somewhat less than professional desire to return all the favours from earlier in the evening. Listening to Ianto scream out in delight was worth all the other one night stands he'd had that year.

When they were through, Owen collapsed on the bed, panting and damp. He was both completely naked and completely satisfied. With one minor flaw: Ianto hadn't joined him in bed yet. Grunting his disapproval, he looked back to where Ianto was standing at the foot of the bed. He was holding a glass of water that Owen hadn't heard him go get, and just watching the doctor. "What are you doing?"

"Enjoying the view," Ianto replied, sipping gingerly at the water. After a few more mouthfuls, he said, "I'll make a deal with you. You change the sheets, and I'll make you breakfast in bed in the morning."

Owen lifted a brow, but sat up. Ianto was a much better cook than him, and if he could get a decent fried breakfast served to him without getting up, he would take it. "Deal."

Ianto smiled, and drank a little more water. "Do you have a pen and some paper I could use?"

Owen blinked at him, question in his gaze as he nodded. "Yeah, by the fridge."

"Thanks. Lots of... thoughts up here right now." He gestured vaguely to his temple. "I just need to write some things down so I don't forget." With a patented forced smile, Ianto turned around to head for the kitchen.

When he came back, he had two pieces of paper folded over, and set them both on the nightstand. Owen saw from where he was sitting under the blankets that one of the papers had his name on it, while the other had Ianto's. He felt his stomach drop, and a bit of sadness in his heart. Leaning closer to the larger man, he circled an arm around him and whispered against the back of his neck, "How much Retcon did you take?"

Ianto eased back into the hold, knowing Owen would be careful of his wounds. He was so damn tired, and the warmth from the other man felt so nice. "Hm. Enough for a week?"

Owen sighed, and kissed the back of Ianto's bare shoulder, gently. "You didn't have to do that... We don't even know if that will work..."

"Yes, Owen. I did." He closed his eyes, and there was a long sleepy pause before he added. "And if it doesn't work, then I intend to take more, until it does." He yawned. "We'll figure it out."

Owen frowned and kissed his shoulder again, holding him a little tighter. A little protectively, if he thought about it. "Alright."

"You enjoyed tonight, yeah?" Ianto rolled back onto his back, careless of hurting himself, so Owen shifted him a little more.

"Yeah." He laughed a little. "Yeah, it was really good."

"It was damn fantastic," Ianto corrected, causing Owen to laugh. "It was. And you have to remember for the both of us. Promise me? That you'll remember this? You're going to have to remember this for the both of us, Owen."

He was repeating himself, and Owen kissed his lips chastely to make him stop. "I promise."

"Remember," he whisper, hearing Adam's voice whisper the echo in his mind. "Remember this. And tomorrow, I'm going to make the best breakfast you've ever tasted..."

Owen sighed, and didn't point out that that much Retcon would have him sleeping well into the evening tomorrow. Instead, he kissed Ianto's closed eyelids, and said, "Get some sleep, mate."

AN: So there it is. And, yes. I will post the letters at some point in the sequels, so you too will get to read what Ianto was thinking that night, and exactly what he told himself to remember.

Much love, as always: Rhain