A/N:

I decided to post this as a crossover—and as its own story rather than including it in "More Short Stories"—because it will involve all of the regulars from NCIS as well as my Torchwood AUverse, and because that while I hope it won't grow too long, I suspect it will be longer than a "short" story.

For anyone stumbling on my AUverse for the first time, I truly endeavour to explain as I go and will always answer questions, however some knowledge of my world is really going to be helpful. There is a chronological list of my Torchwood stories in my profile. (Thank you again to everyone who helped me compile them!)

Yes, I am still going to be working on Jack and Kam, but the Muses were dancing this morning and this is the result…

Timeline: this takes place after my story, Now Comes the Night, which started out as a response to an episode of House MD and turned into a response to Torchwood's Children of Earth. (Please note that this takes place *before* Chapters 70-73 of Short Stories. Sorry about that, they were part of my writing therapy after CoE. I needed to get that out of my head before I could backtrack with Tim and Abby's wedding.) The first chapter actually begins in late September…

Genre: mostly fluff with some humour, romance and a little drama thrown in for good measure. First chapter especially for everyone who loves Janto fluff (although it's not really all fluff.) Tim and Abby fluff will come later…

Rating: I'm going to call it T because I don't expect it to go too far at any point... if that changes, so will the rating.

Many are the stars I see,
but in my eye, no star like thee.
~English saying used on poesy rings

Chapter One

"I have had dreams and I have had nightmares,
but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams"

Jonas Salk

Jack woke gasping for air, his heart pounding in his hears, like he'd just been dragged back to life. Panic… sheer blind panic… but then he recognized the comfort of his bed... the soft sound of breathing…his beautiful Welshman, sleeping next to him. He was grateful the nightmare hadn't woken the younger man. He wouldn't have wanted to explain that the last thing he remembered was Camille Johnson standing over him, cold concrete pouring on top of him, filling his nose, his mouth… his eyes. Drowning in it…

He closed his eyes a moment. That wasn't the worst nightmare he'd had in the weeks since That Week. The worst of the nightmares had Ianto and not him chained to a wall in the bunker, the younger, very mortal man being drown in concrete while he watched on, helpless to save him. He shuddered. He opened his eyes. Ianto was still sleeping peacefully next to him in their bed.

Jack feathered a soft kiss to his bare shoulder and laid his head against the younger man for just a moment, just to reassure himself that he was really real. Really there.

He murmured something unintelligible, causing Jack to smile.

"I love you," he told his Welshman softly, not wanting to wake him.

Ianto muttered something back at him. It might have been Welsh or it might have been Mandarin for all Jack knew, but it definitely wasn't English.

He chuckled softly despite the lingering memories of the nightmare, the reality behind it, and slid out of bed. The clock on the nightstand next to him read 3:03. He'd only gotten a couple of hours of sleep, but he knew he was up for the day. The nightmare had caused too much adrenaline to go rushing through his system. He crept out of the bedroom quietly, wrapping a bathrobe—Ianto's he realized on closer inspection—around his naked body.

He went down the hall to have a peek in at his two children. Not that he was being paranoid. He just wanted to make sure they were all right. It had been almost a month since the 'incident'—he was just as rattled as every other parent on the planet.

As he opened the door to Jason's room, however, his mind flitted back in time, another house, another life… Alice… she wasn't called Alice then, she was called Melissa. Lucia had changed their names when she left him. She claimed it was all to do with her quitting Torchwood on less than stellar terms, but Jack knew better. She'd earned the right to have a life of her own, no one would have forced her to take the retcon, not with a daughter to raise. No one begrudged her her freedom and no one thought for a second that she would betray the secrets she'd been privy to as a Torchwood employee.

It had only been almost a month since he'd seen his daughter and her son, his grandson, Steven, but Alice continued to make herself quite clear. She didn't want him coming around any time soon. She needed time. His life was too dangerous.

He didn't blame her, but it still hurt.

He pressed a soft kiss to Jason's forehead and stole back out of his room; in the room next to his, Seren was sleeping just as peacefully as her brother. Jack tucked the blanket up around her and thought about Alice again, about all the nights he'd crept into her room after a long, long day, just to sit next to her crib, just to be near her. He only hoped… he swallowed back the lump in his throat.

It would be one thing if he and Ianto stopped getting along, if the younger man didn't love him or want to be with him any more… if he did something his Welshman couldn't forgive… it would hurt. It would so much… but as long as he didn't suddenly decide he was afraid of him, that he hated him… that he was dangerous…

"Jack?"

He blinked away his tears. "Sorry," he apologized. He must not have gotten up as quietly as he'd thought. Ianto was standing in the hallway looking at him, wrapped in his bathrobe—which was only fair, considering he'd inadvertently nicked the younger man's.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he lied. It was obvious by the look on his face that his husband knew it was a lie. Jack slid in closer, wrapped his arms around the other's waist, and kissed his forehead. "Go on back to bed, Sweetheart."

He wasn't so easily dissuaded. "You're having nightmares again, aren't you?"

"It's nothing," Jack lied again. He didn't want Ianto worrying about him, that was why he hadn't told him about them when they started, almost three weeks ago.

"Cariad…"

"I…it's nothing I can't handle," he said instead of trying to convince him it was nothing at all. "I'm all right." Just as long as I have you… but even if he didn't leave him, he would die. Someday he would die. Alice… Steven… Jason… Seren… they would all die. All but him. In the end, he would be alone…

Ianto pulled in closer, holding him tightly. "I love you, Jack. Just remember that. No matter what happens, I will always, always love you."

"Always is an awfully long time… you might get sick of me after a while," he teased, mostly to cover up how much hearing words like 'always' hurt. They wouldn't have always. If they were lucky they would have forty or fifty years, and Jack didn't expect to get that lucky. Ianto was right, he probably wouldn't live to see another decade and the thought of losing him…

"I could never get sick of you," the younger man promised him vehemently, "not even in a million years." Then he smiled. "Although… there are times when I want to strangle you…"

He smirked. "Guess it's a good thing I'm immortal."

"Quite." He pulled away and headed for the stair.

"Where are you going?"

"To make you a pot of coffee. Jack," he said to the look the other was giving him, "immortal or not, yours is enough to strip the paint off the walls."

He chuckled—but tugged him forward by the collar of his robe for another quick kiss. "I love you, too, you know," he said in serious tone.

"I know that, Jack."

"Ianto…"

"Shhhh, let me get the coffee going," he kissed him again, thoroughly enjoying the feel of the older man's lips on his, those strong arms that had slid around his shoulders to hold him some more. "Then we can sit down and go over the final plans for rebuilding of the Hub." Or at least he sincerely hoped the plans were final this time…

"You—"

"You're up. I'm up. Just deal with it, Cariad."

With a sigh, Jack gave in and fell into step behind him so that he could admire the view…

As it was, he ended up going over the final revision of Hub's new layout while Ianto looked over an expense report Martha had sent them. So far she and Lois were doing fine on their own, but even if she did relent and let Johnson onto her team, they were going to need more people to make Torchwood, London, a reality again.

It had taken Lois less than three weeks to uncover a dozen companies still held under the Torchwood umbrella; most of them were defunct, but a few were still paying into the bank account. That wasn't what worried Jack. What worried him was what they were going to find in the numerous old warehouses, basements, and various other holding facilities the two women had discovered in one of the data bases. Sarah Jane would probably be willing to lend a hand with some of it, but…

"Jack?"

The Captain looked up from his paperwork. "Hmmm?" Ianto was frowning. It wasn't a deep or unpleasant scowl, just a perplexed little look that he knew better than to call endearingly sexy. True though it was, saying so aloud was likely to get him hit.

"I've got an email from somebody called Amber Wilson," he said; it sounded almost like a question.

The older man quirked an eyebrow. "Never head of her."

"Me either. But there's an itemized bill attached…and apparently if we have any problems with the validity of her claim, we're to take it up with Bobby…"