Summary: Jack has to figure what to do with Ianto in the aftermath of Cyberwoman.

Characters: Captain Jack H, Ianto J, little bit of Gwen C., mention of Lisa H.

Rating: M

Spoiler: Cyberwoman

Setting: directly after Cyberwoman

Warnings: adult language, swearing, violence, bondage

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or any of its characters or plot lines, nor do I receive money from stories.

A/N: This is how I figure things went just between the scene of Ianto crying over Lisa and the scene of him returning to the Hub. This story hints that the sexual relationship with Jack and Ianto didn't occur fully until well after Cyberwoman, which is something I believed when I wrote this. I've since changed my mind, but don't feel the need to change the story. Thanks as always to my muse, my friend and my talented beta, Triquetralin.

How It Went

There was one cell in the Hub with no Plexiglas wall, just 3 concrete walls and a thick metal door with a small sliding viewing panel. The sounds coming from behind the door – violent crashes and shouting – were not encouraging. Gwen shook her head as she watched Jack, her boss, as he emptied his pockets. He gestured to her and she held out her hands, taking the bits and pieces he pulled out.

"This is not a good idea, Jack."

"Duly noted." He removed his watch but kept the wide leather wrist strap on his right wrist. The last thing he took off was the small Bluetooth earpiece.

The crashes behind the door had quieted. He peered through the window. Unlocking the door, he waited, holding it closed, but he heard no new sounds.

"Lock it behind me."

Although she didn't agree with his decision, she nodded, ready to do as he asked. He opened the door quickly and slipped in, slamming the door behind him. He stood in front of it until he heard the lock clank loudly.

The room was small, with a caged light in the high ceiling. Against one wall was a metal cot normally bolted to the floor. Right now, it was half bolted, two of the legs bent so that the bed drooped to the side. The thin mattress was sagging against the wall next to Jack where it had been thrown.

Sitting curled up on the lopsided bed frame, knees tucked up to his chin, was the last person Jack might have expected to see in the small cell, except he had been the one to put him in there.

"Ianto?"

"Fuck off."

"Oh good, you're talking to me."

Ianto hurled himself off the bed and slammed into Jack. The impact of the hard body and the harder wall knocked the wind out of him. Gasping, he still had the instincts to put his hands up as Ianto swung his fists. He would have ducked but he didn't want Ianto breaking his hand on the wall. Over the young man's grunts and screams of anger, he could hear Gwen shouting outside.

Ianto broke off, rushing the door, crashing his fists against it, swearing at Gwen through the open panel. Jack took advantage of the man's inattention and came up behind him, putting him in a full nelson hold, turning him away from the door, aiming for the mattress, not wanting to hurt him.

"Jack! I'm coming in!"

"Keep that door locked, Gwen! That's an order."

He felt Ianto's body shake and letting up enough to move his face to the side, Jack was surprised to hear him laughing.

"You're losing it, Jack." The laughter sounded manic, but nothing about Ianto was sane right now.

Planting a knee in the middle of Ianto's back, Jack shrugged out of his braces, and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Going to fuck me into submission?"

"Not unless you want me to."

Ianto turned away again. "Always about sex with you."

"You brought it up."

Letting himself up carefully, Jack took his shirt and hung over the peek hole. "Okay now? No one's watching. Just us."

"Jack ...?" Gwen was not happy with the decision.

"Gwen, go away. I've got this."

"Sir has spoken, Gwen! Better listen," Ianto said, insolently.

After a moment or two, Jack trusted that she was gone. Ianto didn't. He put his ear to the door for several moments before he was satisfied.

"What do you want?" Ianto turned a sullen eye on Jack, twitching his rumpled and sweat-stained shirt into some sense of order.

"To talk."

"You talk too much."

"Okay, I'll listen." Jack pulled a corner of the mattress down to the floor and sat on it, legs crossed.

"I have nothing to say." Ianto went back to the sagging bed-frame, curling up against the wall again.

"You said no one ever listens. Did you just want to bitch or are you interested in making a change?"

"Fuck off."

"And we're back to sex."

"You can't jolly this back to normal, Jack. Don't even try."

The captain leaned his back against the wall. It was cold with just his thin tee-shirt on but it helped keep him alert. It had been a long, long day. He needed peace and quiet and he had a feeling it would be a long time before he got that.

"Just leave me alone," Ianto said. It sounded more like a plea than a surly demand. Jack focused on the tone.

"I can't. I really can't." He let some of his frustration and sadness come through in his voice.

Ianto raised his head. The pain in his eyes tore at Jack.

Let me go. I won't cause trouble. I'll leave and you'll never see me again."

"I don't want you to."

The anger flared again just for a moment. "I don't fucking care what you want!" Then he sighed painfully. "There's nothing left for me here. Let me go."

"I can't."

"You mean, you won't. Your damn ego won't let me go. A failure, a mess you can't fix. You don't dare let a blot like me stain your record."

This time Jack laughed. "You haven't been looking hard enough or far enough in your precious files if you think my record with Torchwood is stainless."

"You're going to keep me here? Locked up? That's kidnapping."

"So? You know our practices aren't always strictly legal. I don't want to keep you. I want to keep you safe."

"That's a laugh! Didn't you threaten to shoot me awhile ago?"

"Your point being?" Jack's voice hardened.

"A fate worse than death, is it?"

"You saw what she was like."

That made Ianto wince. "Don't talk about her."

Jack pushed. "Lisa was not going to let you go until you were like her. Until we were all like her. I will keep saying it until it hits home."

"Shut up. She wasn't like the others. She knew me. There was something left of Lisa in there. I had to help her."

"You're right, she wasn't like the others, and that's what made her more dangerous. Don't you see? You recoil from a Cyberman because there is nothing human left there. You will do anything you can to avoid being like them." Jack crawled across the floor, kneeling next to Ianto, trying to convince him of the truth in his words. "But Lisa looked human! You could see her face and that was dangerous. She was insidious, using your feelings against you and when she was strong enough, if her coddling and manipulation hadn't worked, she would have just taken you like she took Gwen and that would have been it."

Ianto curled up again, covering his head.

Jack went on, relentless. "Her emotions were part of her programming, a loop of phrases to suck you in. All she did was put words together to make you listen, bring you closer. A Cyberman like that is more dangerous than the others."

"No! I won't believe you! I have to believe I could have fixed her."

"Now whose ego can't admit failure?"

"She was everything. I've got nothing left."

"You've got Torchwood," Jack said. You've got me," he added quietly.

"After all this, I don't think so."

"I want you as part of Torchwood. If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't be here. You'd have been turned over to UNIT and I really would have washed my hands of you."

Ianto looked up, surprise in his eyes.

"I want to make things right with you. I was hoping you wanted to make things right with us, too."

Jack thought he was getting through but Ianto turned his head away, refusing to engage in any more conversation. After a few minutes, Jack slowly got up and moved back to the wall. Ianto stayed on the bed, curled up.

Jack stayed silent but didn't leave. To be honest he was too exhausted to move.

He saw Ianto's body shaking again, and realized the young man was crying. It made him feel like crying himself. Was that the answer? Let go enough to cry in front of Ianto, or Gwen or one of the others? He wasn't sure he could. He'd been cold too long, holding on too long. And right now he still didn't trust Ianto enough to show any vulnerability. Not yet.

Finally the tears had quieted to the odd sniffle, but still he lay on the mattress, turned to the wall.

Silence filled the room. Jack made a decision. He stood.

"Come on."

"What?" Ianto uncharacteristically wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve and Jack winced. That move showed him, more than any other, how little Ianto cared for anything right now.

Jack went to the door, and unlocked it.

"You're letting me go?"

"Not exactly. I have clean clothes for you in the shower room."

"And then ..?"

"Back into the cell. For now."

The contents of Jack's pockets lay on the floor under a big white handkerchief. He picked everything up and handed the handkerchief to Ianto.

"Blow your nose."

"Yes, sir." This time there was no bitterness.

They walked past the rows of cells. Ianto glanced at one, then looked away quickly. But something caught his eye and he stopped.

"Doctor Tanizaki, you took him out of there?"

Jack grimaced. "Yes."

"What did you do with him?"

"We've dealt with him." That usually meant they had found a way to cover up his death.

The answer prompted another one and Ianto's face paled. "Lisa. What have you done with Lisa?"

Captain Jack stood his ground in the hallway, not saying anything.

"Tell me!"

"No."

The door to the showers was at the far end of the hall from the door leading back to the Hub. Jack alert to every motion, still nearly didn't catch Ianto as he rushed past. No time for subtlety, he threw Ianto down in a flying tackle. He hoped the crack he heard was not a bone breaking, but he couldn't stop to check as the young man kicked and punched him viciously. Seeing Ianto every day in his neat expensive suit, so quiet and polite, it was easy to forget this young man had grown up in a violent neighbourhood. He knew some dirty tricks and wasn't holding back.

Jack doubled over with a knee to the groin.

"Dammit, Ianto!" Fed up and furious, he stopped being nice and slammed his fist into Ianto's belly and then another one across the jaw. Seeing him slightly stunned, Jack punched him once more, watching him sag to the floor. He wasn't completely unconscious though. Picking Ianto up under his arms, Jack – breathing hard at the dead weight – dragged him back to the cell and dumped him on the ratty mattress. Feeling a sense of responsibility he turned him over into a recovery position, but didn't feel Samaritan enough to stay in the room with him any more.

Instead he locked the door again and sank, wincing, to the cold floor outside to catch his breath, waiting for sounds of Ianto waking up.

It didn't take long. Behind the door, Jack heard coughing and choking sounds, then puking and then silence for a bit.

"I know you're out there."

Jack stood up and opened the panel.

"Just tell me how you've taken care of Lisa. I thought Gwen was trying to cure you of your cold-heartedness."

"Lisa brought it back." His groin ached. "And you're not helping."

"Tell me. I'll calm down if you tell me."

Jack highly doubted that, but didn't say so. Well, Ianto would have to do his own mourning. No use sugar-coating it. "Incineration."

Ianto gasped, but that was his only reaction. He sat on the mattress, completely still. Jack watched him for awhile.

"You've lost your bathing privileges for today." He snapped the panel closed.

Ianto didn't answer and for all Jack knew he would still be sitting there in the same position when he returned.

Later, alone, he heard howls echoing up from the cells and he was very sure they weren't the Weevils.

The next day Jack decided to see if Ianto really wanted a second chance. Toshiko, computer wiz had worked feverishly on the Torchwood Hub security systems – all the lock-down codes, passwords, armoury card keys – every bit of security that Ianto knew (and he knew a lot) had been changed. She had gone home exhausted but sure she had covered every loophole. Even so, Jack wasn't going to let Ianto work without supervision for a long while.

He came down to the cells. On the floor, outside the cell, lay Ianto's shirt, sweat- and blood-stained and, by the smell, had been used to wipe up the vomit from last night. He wondered how it got outside, then saw the open panel. Ianto must have prised it open and stuffed the shirt through it.

He peered in. Unlocking the cell, he entered, carrying a small bag.

"It was stinking up in here." Ianto sat on the mattress, half naked, rumpled and shivering.

"Nice of you to clean up." Although it wasn't that much fresher – the vomit smell lingered over Ianto's body odour.

"I need to piss. Why haven't I ever noticed these cells don't have a toilet?"

"You know we don't keep people in here very long and the other beings we house in here don't usually use toilets." He pointed to a drain in the middle of the floor.

"I couldn't." Ianto blushed slightly.

Jack knelt on the floor at Ianto's feet. Ianto, startled, backed up. "What are you doing?"

The captain pulled cuffs out of the bag. Ianto stayed out of reach. "I won't run away. You don't have to do that." His voice sounded panicked at the thought of being bound.

"That's what I thought yesterday. If you want a bathroom and shower, it's the shackles. If not, you can stay in here."

Ianto swore but stepped forward.

The past few days had brought back not-so-pleasant memories for Jack. He had done this before, been the jailer and sometimes a torturer. It was something he had never told anyone. He was letting Ianto, Gwen and the others think anger and betrayal were the motives for his actions, but he was surprising himself how easily it was to fit back into this mould again.

He pushed Ianto in front of him, and as they exited the cell, he kept his eyes on the young man's bare back. He made no comment whenever Ianto stumbled, and he ignored the constant vulgar muttering, although he had a good idea what was being said.

The toilet was on the way to the shower room. Jack held the door open.

"You're not coming in, to see if I have lock picks stuck up my cock?"

"I'll risk it. This is the only way out and I'll check the shackles again when you're finished. If you're taking too long, I'll come in."

Ianto would have asked how long is too long, but he just couldn't wait any more. He took his time, just to see if Jack would burst in, but nothing happened. He finally decided he wanted to be clean more than he wanted to annoy Jack.

Sure enough the Captain checked the shackles. They moved on to the shower room. This time Jack came in. It was a fairly large room with a row of 4 shower heads. On the opposite wall were cubbyholes, and piles of fluffy towels, with a few, low, wooden benches. Locking the door behind him, Jack sat on one of the benches. He motioned Ianto closer and unlocked his shackles.

"You're staying?"

"Yes."

Ianto shrugged. He was by no means body shy, but he was always aware of a strange sexual tension between him and the captain. It started almost the moment they met. A strange embrace, catching Jack as he fell from the clutch of a pteranodon they were trying to capture. They had ended up rolling together on the floor, bodies pressed together very intimately. Ianto had felt Jack's instant hard-on, but what surprised him more was his own.

They had never discussed it, although Jack flirted quite outrageously with Ianto. He flirted with anyone and everyone, Ianto realized and he hadn't taken it seriously. Except the flirts were often very open-ended, as if he were saying he was open to furthering their intimacy if Ianto was interested.

It didn't bear thinking now. The idea was absurd. Jack had killed Lisa, his girlfriend. Whatever intimacy they'd had, it was killed, never to be reborn. He would work for Jack, if he was allowed, but any affection, loyalty, friendship, or attraction he had for the man was as dead as Lisa.

So, undressing and showering in front of Jack wasn't going to bother him. If it turned Jack on, tough, he would have to deal with it. Ianto wasn't going to get worked up about Jack, his jailer, getting all pervy watching him have a much needed shower.

He stripped off his socks, pants and shorts quickly, dumping them all onto the floor. Turning on the shower, he waited for it to get hot enough and then ducked under it. For the longest time he let the water course off him, the heat and sting of the spray soothing his tense shoulders and back. He didn't linger over washing up, but he made sure he got all the stink and grime off, from his hair down to his toes scrubbing himself twice.

With the shower turned off, he wiped dripping hair from his eyes. A towel was placed in his hands and he took it. Finishing drying himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist and looked for his discarded clothes but didn't see them.

"I threw them out," Jack explained, seeing Ianto searching glance.

"You said you had clean clothes for me?"

Jack pointed to a pile in one of the cubbyholes. Ianto was disappointed it was just a tee shirt and jeans but he didn't say anything, just got dressed. There was a comb, toothbrush and toothpaste, but no razor. Oh well, he didn't like shaving much.

"Feel better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Good. Let's go."

This time no shackles. Ianto decided to behave and see where that led. He was surprised when Jack headed back up to the main part of the Hub and just as surprised to see no sign of the carnage Lisa's last battle had caused. It was as if nothing had happened.

They ended up in Jack's office. Pulling out a chair for Ianto, Jack settled behind his desk, leaning back in his chair. He pushed a bottle of water and a Styrofoam box across the table. Inside was a thick roast beef sandwich. Ianto started eating hungrily.

"We need to get a few more things straight ..."

"More talking." Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Yes, more talking," Jack's eyes flashed angrily. "I brought you out because I thought you were interested in a second chance."

"All right."

"You're right, Ianto, I should have Retcon-ed you and kicked you out, but fact is, I need you." Jack decided honesty was his best weapon. "Torchwood is too small and I don't see any new recruits in the wings."

"Anyone can do what I do. Coffee, maid service, filing ..." His voice was bitter again. A look from Jack, harder than he had seen his eyes before, shut him up.

"I didn't hire anyone. I hired you. You're part of Torchwood and we failed you as much as you failed us. I don't take that responsibility lightly. So, I want you back doing what I hired you for, but I'll be starting you on new duties. You'll learn the rift predictor system from Toshiko. Gwen will school you on forensic investigation ..."

"That's ..." Ianto swallowed his last bite of sandwich quickly, nearly choking. "Wait, you'll be letting me go on missions? As a team member?"

"Yes, if things work out. You and I will have weekly evaluations. Consider them Torchwood-ordered therapy sessions." He added. "For the both of us."

Even Jack had a hard time not rolling his eyes at his own suggestion, but he would do whatever it took to keep Ianto.

"Lastly, I'll be the one to get your weapons re-certified, and we will regularly train together in unarmed combat."

Ianto's eyebrows went up. "Wrestling?"

"Something to channel your aggression. I can't have you fighting like last night with the rest of the team."

"Fine." He started to get up.

"And ..." Jack said firmly. Ianto sat down again, stifling a heavy sigh. "For the next 3 months you will be on strict probation. You will have a shift – eight o'clock to five o'clock. If you need to work overtime, you will clear it with me and there will be someone here on duty with you. You will not be in the Hub alone, absolutely no exceptions!" He waited for Ianto to nod again, then continued.

"Your computer activity, searches, keystrokes, will all be monitored. You will be signed in to the computer by me, for the first month, then will be given a general password. Any activity outside your duties, not confirmed or checked by me, or any attempt to enter an area you aren't cleared for and you will be right back in that cell and then out on your ass, hopped up on Retcon. Understood?"

Ianto nodded. It was more than going back to the beginning. Even then he had access to passwords and codes. It was how he got Lisa into the Hub in the first place. He wasn't sure how long he could stick it. Restriction was not something he dealt with well. Already he felt antsy at the idea of Jack or one of the others looking over his shoulder all the time.

"What about the others? Are they going to resent me being here?"

"You'll have to work that out with each one of them. We are all going to have to work out how to move on."

Ianto nodded again. "Is that all," and for the first time in a while, he added, "sir?". But there was no insolence or anger in his voice now.

"Yes. Go home." Jack handed him his key chain, the Torchwood keys distinctly absent.

Ianto stood, gazing at his keys. "How do you know I'll come back?"

Jack shrugged but his eyes had a pained look to them. He turned away, voice hard. "I don't. I know now why you chose us. I'm hoping you'll come to understand why I chose you."