Author's Note: Here's another update for you. My friend and I are trying to write something every day and so far it's worked out great (or you wouldn't be reading this chapter right now). I started the next one today and hope to get it done before I'm going on holidays next Sunday. I'll be gone for 10 days, visiting friends in Ireland and England (they're spending a semester studying there) and won't have my laptop with me, so if there's no update before Sunday, it won't come until almost two weeks later, I guess. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's another long one.^^

Chapter 8

He moved her hair to the side and planted an open-mouthed kiss right behind her ear, eliciting a low moan from her parted lips. He allowed himself a pleased smirk before he trailed kisses down her throat and over her bare shoulder, moving the straps of her bra and dress out of the way as he went. His other hand ran up and down her spine sensuously.

Her skin was becoming hypersensitive, goose bumps covered her arms and a pleasurable shiver ran down her spine. Her fingers were twisted together where they rested in her lap as she desperately tried to hold onto something so she wasn't swept away by the waves of sensation. She was too far gone to return her partner's attentions, but that was exactly the way he wanted her.

A sharp beeping rang through the air that had been filled only with sounds of pleasure for the longest time now.

"Please not again," Darren groaned. His hands left her body and he let his head fall onto the back of the couch.

Tosh was trying to get her bearings as she rooted through her purse for her phone. One glance at the display was enough to make her grimace. "I'm sorry, Darren, I…"

"Let me guess, you have to leave," Darren said, annoyance seeping into his voice. "Damn it, Toshiko, that's the third time in two weeks you've run out on me. And once again I'm not getting an explanation, am I?"

Tosh was torn. She wanted to tell him so bad, wanted him to know without a doubt that she would stay if she could, but that there was no way she could ignore this call. Their relationship had grown by leaps and bounds in the weeks they had known each other and she felt completely at ease with him. She would have liked to say she trusted him completely, but after what had happened with Mary, she was extra cautious when it came to Torchwood. She wanted to come clean and let him into her life fully, but she needed some sort of proof that she wasn't being taken advantage of again.

And the proof needed to come soon, she knew, or there would be no one to come clean to. Lately the rift had been especially active and Darren was running out of patience. He knew there was something she wasn't telling him and with every time she refused to explain, he grew more frustrated. She would tell him soon, she decided, with or without proof, but not tonight. Tonight she had to go do her job.

"I'm…," she started but was cut off with a wave of Darren's hand. He still wasn't looking at her.

"Don't apologize," he said, his voice cold. "Just leave!" He made no move to get up and see her out; instead he put his arm over his eyes and sighed deeply.

Tosh's throat tightened and tears gathered behind her eyes, but she had no time to make things better, no matter how much she hated leaving things unresolved between them. With another sad look at Darren and a whispered "I'm sorry" she left.

Night turned into day and the hub was alive with activity. None of the members of Torchwood had gone home or slept since the rift alarm had come in the night before and still they had no clue what they were dealing with.

When they had arrived on the scene of the rift spike, there had been a red-orange, three-armed humanoid alien lying dead on the street while another was just slipping around a corner further down the street. Gwen and Jack had run after it, but by the time they had reached the corner, the alien had vanished without a trace.

So now the team was spread out all over the hub, trying to figure out what their mystery alien was and what had killed it. Owen was down in the autopsy bay, taking the alien apart looking for clues to the murder weapon. Tosh was searching the city for the run-away alien using a complicated new program. Ianto was scouring the archives for anything that could be helpful and Gwen was looking through hours worth of CCTV footage. There had been no cameras where the aliens had appeared, so she needed to take the cameras in the general vicinity and hope the alien had passed one of them at one point during the night. While the rest of the team had been busy with their respective tasks, Jack had locked himself into his office, looking for some peace and quiet to think.

"Yes!" Owen's sudden shout cut through the silence. "Got it!"

As if his voice had been projected throughout the hub, Ianto suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs leading to the archives and Jack came out of his office. Gwen and Tosh joined them and together they made their way to Owen.

"What do you have?" Jack asked as he leaned against the banister at the top of the stairs to the autopsy bay.

"You see this thing here?" Owen asked, pointing at a thin, grey rod almost hidden between folds of flesh.

"Looks like a giant needle," Jack said, "what is it?"

"That's what killed our friend here. Looks like it can be pushed out when the alien feels threatened and wants to attack. It's located on the side of its abdomen, near as I can figure, so it's the right height and shape to have caused the weird stab wounds I couldn't place earlier."

"So the other alien killed it?" Gwen asked.

"Bingo, give the girl a cookie." Owen clapped mockingly.

Gwen glared at him, turned on her heel and headed back to her desk without another word.

"Was that really necessary, Owen?" Tosh asked, shooting him a murderous look.

"Not necessary, Tosh, but funny. That was funny," Owen smirked.

"Not from where I'm standing," Tosh replied and went back to her computers. On the way there she met Gwen's curious gaze and sent her a shy smile. The other woman smiled back and just like that, they had made the first step towards rebuilding their friendship.

"Alright, now that we know what killed it, we really need to find its friend," Jack said as he moved away from the autopsy bay. "Any luck in the archives, Ianto?"

"No orange aliens with giant retractable needles, sorry Sir."

"Tosh?"

"Nothing, sorry, Jack." She shook her head.

"Anything catch your eye, Gwen?" Jack moved behind her seat to look at the CCTV footage on her screen and started playing with the ends of her hair.

"Nothing. Maybe it went underground," she mused, smiling up at Jack happily.

"Maybe," Jack agreed, squeezing her shoulders.

"So we need to figure out where and when it will come up again," Ianto chipped in, seemingly unruffled by Jack openly flirting with Gwen.

Tosh couldn't believe how calm he was. If it had been Darren doing the same to her, she would be spitting nails, or sitting in a corner somewhere, crying her eyes out.

"Alright. Gwen, keep going through the security camera footage and sent some to me so I can help. Tosh, compile a list of every sewer access and what's close to it and figure out where our friend is likely to come up again. Owen, I want more information on the alien. Anything you got: age, sex, preferred food, anything. Ianto, back to the archives and when you're through there, help Tosh," Jack delegated, "Oh and could you get us some breakfast before you go back down?"

Ianto nodded, but Jack had already turned around and was walking back to his office. "I'll take my usual, thanks," he called over his shoulder before he closed the door.

Tosh watched Ianto while he made the rounds, asking Gwen and Owen for their orders. She thought she could detect a slight slump to his usually straight shoulders, but his face remained inscrutable. When he stopped at her desk, she reached out and put her hand on his arm before he could start talking. "Are you ok?" she asked quietly so no one else would hear.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" he answered, his face giving nothing away.

"I… Doesn't it bother you when Jack flirts with Gwen right in front of you?"

"No, that's just Jack. It doesn't mean anything," he said and Tosh wasn't sure who he was trying to convince, her or himself. She let it go anyway, because it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it and this wasn't the time and place for a heart-to-heart anyway.

Instead she gave him her order and squeezed his arm, hoping he knew that she would be there for him if he wanted to talk later. "Do you want me to come with?" she asked when he turned to leave the hub.

Ianto turned back with a genuine smile on his lips. "No, I've got this, but thanks for asking."

Ianto was walking back to the hub from the small bakery where he had bought breakfast, desperately trying not to let his thoughts wander to Jack, when he heard someone call his name. He turned around and saw a tall, dark-haired man in a suit hurrying towards him.

"You're Ianto, right?" the man asked as he came to a stop in front of him.

Ianto nodded cautiously. "And you are?"

"I'm Darren, Darren Williams, Toshiko's boyfriend."

"Of course, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. Tosh talks about you all the time," Ianto replied, smiling and holding out his hands. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Darren took his hand, but he didn't smile. "Does she talk about running out on me, too? Because she does, all the time, and she won't tell me where she's going, Just that she has to leave," he said, anger clear in his voice.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Ianto tried to explain. "If she says she has to leave, then she has to leave. And if she says she can't tell you where she's going, then she really can't. Tosh wouldn't lie about that, that's just not her."

Darren grimaced. "You know why she leaves and where she goes, don't you?"

Ianto was surprised. He usually prided himself on being almost impossible to read, but this man, who had never talked to him before, saw right through his careful words. If he kept lying to him now, it would only aggravate him further, so he begrudgingly admitted, "I do, but it's not my place to tell. I won't go behind Tosh's back like that."

"I understand," Darren said and sighed, the fight seemed to drain from his body. "It's just… Look, I know she's your best friend and you don't want to betray her trust, but I really need you to tell me the truth. Is she cheating on me?"

Ianto's jaw dropped. Whatever he had expected Darren to say, it wasn't this. "Cheating? That's what you think is going on?"

Darren shrugged, apparently thrown by Ianto's honest confusion. "What am I supposed to think? Her phone rings at all hours of the night, even on Sundays, and she just runs out. She doesn't even answer the phone, she just leaves. So I got to thinking, maybe it's her husband or a live-in boyfriend or something, telling her that he's on his way home. No idea why he would be out and about at crazy times like this, but what do I know about it?"

In that moment, Darren looked like a man barely holding on to his sanity while being plagued by doubts and suspicions.

Ianto's heart went out to him. He knew what it was like to lie awake at night weighing possibilities, but he could also understand why Tosh hadn't told him about Torchwood. Jack would flip his lid if he found out and she'd be hard-pressed to stop him from retconning Darren. And even if she told him, it was still possible that Darren wouldn't believe her.

Ianto sighed quietly. He had to do something or Tosh would have been happy for the longest time. "She's not cheating on you," he finally said, "I know you have no reason to believe me, but it's the truth. I can't say more than that, but there's no husband, no live-in boyfriend, no boyfriend of any sort except you."

"So what do you suggest I do?" Darren asked, sounding defeated.

"You have to trust her. Trust that she isn't keeping this from you to hurt you and that she really does have to leave when she says she does," Ianto said.

"That's a whole lot of trust," Darren whispered. "What if I can't do that?"

"Then you have to talk to her," Ianto said. "If you want your relationship to work, you have to tell her why you need to know, what you're afraid of. All I can tell you is that she's not cheating on you and that she has a valid reason for leaving. The rest she has to tell you herself."

"Do you think she will?" Darren asked.

Ianto took a moment to think, weighing Tosh's dedication to her job against her current happiness and the strength of her wish to stay happy. Finally he said, "Yes, I think she will. If you tell her what you just told me, that the way she acts makes it seem like she's cheating on you, I don't think she will refuse to tell you. I've never seen her happier than she has been since she met you and I don't think she would jeopardize your relationship and her happiness like that." Even if it means picking a fight with Jack, he thought.

"Thank you, Ianto," Darren said, sounding truly grateful. "I don't know what I expected you to tell me when I saw you walking down the street, but this really helped."

Ianto smiled.

"Can you ask her to call me tonight after work?" Darren asked. "You are on your way to work, right?"

"I am and I will," Ianto said. "Good luck, Darren. You're a good man. I hope to see you again soon. Maybe when you meet the rest of the team?"

Darren smiled for the first time that morning. "We'll see. Thanks again, Ianto." And with that he turned and walked away.

When Ianto returned to the hub, Jack, Owen and Gwen were hurrying out the door. After they had left, Tosh told him that Owen had found nothing less than half-digested parts of a human child in the dead alien's stomach. A quick search had found only one primary school close to a sewer access big enough for the alien to fit through, so the others had gone there in hopes of finding it before it got hungry. The school must feel like an all-you-can-eat buffet to it, so they banked on it lying in wait close to it.

As it turned out the alien really was hiding in the sewer close to the school. As soon as Jack started down the ladder to join it, it attacked, so they had no choice but to kill it. They still couldn't explain why it had killed its fellow alien, but at least the immediate danger was over, so Jack sent the others home.

It was hours later, when they lay next to each other on Jack's bed, panting but satisfied, that his thoughts returned to Tosh's words. Doesn't it bother you when Jack flirts with Gwen right in front of you? Of course it bothered him; it more than bothered him. But what could he do about it?

His respect and admiration for Jack had given way to stronger emotions soon after they had started their affair – if you could even call it that. The other man was in his heart now, in his blood, and Ianto knew he wouldn't get out of this unscathed. Every way he turned, he saw heartache and pain looming on the horizon. Jack had made it clear from the beginning that this was sex, nothing more, and that he would never be interested in anything more either.

Ianto had pretty much come to terms with that. It still hurt to know that Jack would never return his feelings, but he had known going into this that it was a very real possibility. What really scared him was the thought that one day Jack would get bored with him and just drop him in favour of someone else, or that he would begin seeing someone else behind his back. And he was terrified that that person was going to be Gwen.

So Tosh's question had fallen way short of its mark. It didn't bother him, it terrified him. But there was nothing he could do about it. He could only trust that Jack would tell him if their arrangement stopped working for him.

Something Darren had told him earlier came back to haunt him. That's a whole lot of trust. What if I can't do that?

Yes, what if I can't do it? He had told Darren to talk to Tosh if he wanted the relationship to work, but they actually had a relationship. What was he supposed to say to Jack? I know this is just sex to you, but can you promise me never to hook up with Gwen? No, that wouldn't do at all, that would be asking for too much as far as Jack was concerned.

But there was one thing he could ask for, if he had the courage. Jack's answer could go either way, he could agree or he could call off their arrangement right there and then. Could Ianto really risk that? And if he didn't, how long could he live with the uncertainty?

In the end he decided the risk was worth taking. "Jack…," he began hesitantly, "what am I to you?"

"What do you mean, what are you to me?" Jack asked, sounding truly perplexed.

"Am I just one of many? Have you been with anyone else since we started this... thing?" There, he'd said it. It was out there now and the only thing he could do was wait for Jack's reaction.

"Ianto? I thought we agreed that this wasn't…," Jack began but was cut off by Ianto.

"I know, but I need to know. I don't think I can keep doing this if I'm not the only one," he said quickly, mentally preparing himself for the rejection he was sure was about to come.

Jack stayed silent so long that Ianto thought he wouldn't answer at all. He was about to get up off the bed and leave when Jack finally spoke. "There's no one else," he said, his voice was somewhat strained, but sincerity rang in every word.

Ianto breathed a sigh of relief and felt his body relax back into the pillows. He hadn't even noticed how tense he had become, but it was really no wonder. Jack's answer was everything he had wanted and hadn't dared hope for. Even if he never got more than that, it would be enough to keep him going for the rest of his life. He couldn't stop the wide smile from spreading across his lips.

"This is really important to you, isn't it?" Jack asked close to his ear.

Lost in happy thoughts, Ianto hadn't even noticed him move closer, but when he looked up he saw that Jack's face was only a hair's breadth away from his own. Their eyes met and Ianto couldn't breathe. Feelings swirled in Jack's eyes he had never seen there before; affection, joy, he thought he could even detect a hint of love.

"Yes, it's very important to me," he finally whispered and closed the distance between their faces, taking Jack's lips in a deep kiss.