Lab Rat

It was early and quiet – just how Ianto liked it. He pottered happily around in the Hub tidying up, and putting the coffee maker on. The others would be drifting in soon. He looked up at the alarm over the door sounded but his smile faded as he saw the state of the team as they entered, coming back from an obviously challenging callout. Gwen was limping and leaning heavily – a little too heavily in Ianto's opinion - on Jack, whilst Owen fussed around Tosh who was dripping a quite terrifying amount of blood from a gashed arm. He moved quickly to the kitchen – hot sweet tea and lots of it looked to be in order. Owen spotted him,

'Careful teaboy' he snarked, 'don't run. Wouldn't want you getting hurt now would we?'

Jack, having deposited Gwen onto the sofa was on his way up to his office and paused, mid-stride, to look at Ianto, his face was unreadable, then he went into his office and closed the door carefully. As he expected, Ianto was not far behind him.

'If there was a rift spike, why didn't you call me?' Ianto demanded without preamble

Jack wouldn't meet his eye 'Didn't seem big enough to warrant calling out the whole team'

'But you called Tosh even though I was on call last night not her' Ianto persisted

Jack didn't respond

'Tosh got hurt and it's my fault' said Ianto miserably

'No, no' cried Jack, 'its no-one's fault! Tosh was unlucky that's all. She got in the way of some nasty claws but it's a clean slash. Owen will stitch her up and she'll be fine.

Ianto couldn't contain himself 'A clean slash? She shouldn't have been there at all Jack.'

Uncomfortable, Jack suddenly shifted into command mode, 'are you questioning my decision Ianto? Because if so, I'll have to point out your place in the command structure here and I really do not want to have to do that'

Ianto looked at him, 'This is because you still feel guilty about my wrist isn't it? '

Three nights previously, when Ianto and Jack had been indulging in a hectic and slightly tipsy game of naked hide and seek, Ianto had slipped on one of Owen's old discarded pizza slices and broken his right wrist. He was now sporting a stylish black cast and Jack, blaming himself, had confined him to the Hub until further notice.

Jack looked uncomfortable, 'I just want you to be safe' he muttered, so low Ianto didn't hear him, and then louder, 'I want to keep everyone safe'

'Jack, it wasn't even a field injury!'

'Ianto, you have you arm in a cast! At best this will slow you down, at worst it will affect your aim with a gun. This isn't about protecting you because I lo… it isn't about protecting you at all it's about keeping the team safe – we can't afford to carry anyone'

'That's bullshit Jack, and you know it!'

As the two men glared at one another Owen's voice floated up from below,

' C'mon teaboy, get the Captain's cock out of your mouth and make with beverages and breakfast, people who actually work need sustenance!'

Jack saw Ianto flinch, 'Ianto – I…'

Ianto turned to leave, 'Sorry Sir, I have to go to buy breakfast for your field agents, that at least is something within my capabilities and congruent with my place within the command structure'

'Ianto..wait –' But Ianto was gone

Jack didn't really feel like joining his injured team for a breakfast de-brief so he decided that he would just work in his office and hope that Ianto would bring something to him, if he did then Jack would know he was forgiven. 45 minutes later when he was still hoping that he was beginning to force himself to realise that once again he had somehow failed at the boyfriend thing and had upset his young lover, by trying to do the right thing he had ended up in the wrong again. Sighing he rose to his feet to go down and apologise to Ianto and also to hopefully grab a bacon sandwich. As he emerged from his office Owen accosted him,

'Where's the teaboy with our breakfast – Christ, Jack, is even that beneath him now?'

Jack frowned, 'he went out nearly an hour ago – isn't he back yet?' He moved over to a computer station and began to call up the CCTV footage that covered Ianto's regular route to the local café. The CCTV tracked Ianto's progress across the Plass, Jack could tell by the set of his shoulders that he was unhappy, they slumped dejectedly and Ianto's steps were slow and heavy. On the periphery of the shot two men in paramedic uniform could be seen surveying the people walking by. When one of them spotted Ianto he nudged his companion and the two men swiftly approached him. Jack watched with a frown on his face as one of the men stopped Ianto with a friendly hand on his shoulder, they spoke briefly and then he saw Ianto pull away from the man and clumsily reach under his jacket for his gun, the cast on his wrist slowing him considerably. 'Told him' muttered Jack. The second man stepped up behind him and clamped something over Ianto's face. Jack's exclamation of horror as he watched Ianto collapse onto the boards of the quay bought Tosh and Gwen to the monitor

'Oh god!' exclaimed Gwen, 'is that who I think it is'

Jack nodded, his eyes on the screen as the two fake paramedics loaded Ianto's unconscious body into a waiting ambulance 'Someone has snatched Ianto' he growled.

Ianto returned to consciousness with a pounding headache and a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. His first thought was 'Christ, not again!' he was getting heartily sick of being kidnapped. He blearily raised his head and looked around – he was in a bedroom, on a soft bed, his unbroken wrist shackled to the headboard. 'That, at least, makes a nice change' he thought. Ianto was used to regaining consciousness in a variety of cold, damp cellars or deserted warehouses so a soft mattress and the possibility of central heating raised his spirits a little. On the other hand, he reminded himself, people who snatch innocent individuals from the street were generally not very nice so he shouldn't let himself get too carried away just because they had given him a duvet to lie on. The door opened a four people entered. Ianto recognised two of them as the men who had accosted him in the Plass, the third was a young man, barely more than a boy, who was naked save fro a collar around his neck and the other was a tall authoritative man whose alien origins were only detectable in the slightly blue-ish tinge to his skin.

'Oh good' said the tall man, 'you are back with us!' He turned to the two pseudo-paramedics, 'Strip him, then leave'

Ianto was efficiently removed from his clothes by the simple expedient of having them cut off of his body. As the door closed behind the two men, the tall man who remained ran his eyes up and down Ianto's body appraisingly.

'My name is Krauz' he said, 'When you speak to me, you will address me as Sir or Doctor'

Ianto raised his head and spat towards him, 'I won't be speaking to you at all' he ground out, 'and I only call one man Sir'

Krauz raised a sceptical eyebrow, 'Feisty' he commented as he began flipping through Ianto's wallet.

'So,' he mused, 'who do we have here?' He looked at Ianto's driving licence, 'Ianto Jones, OK' He looked curiously at Ianto's credit card then he pulled out Ianto's security pass and froze.

'You work for Torchwood?'

Ianto gave him a pitying look but remained silent.

The man moved closer to the bed and sniffed. 'You work for Jack Harkness don't you?' Krauz laughed, 'is that joker the one that you call Sir?' Ianto glared at him. He moved closer and buried his nose in Ianto's groin inhaling deeply. Ianto shifted, uncomfortably. 'Crap!' he exclaimed 'you more than work for him, you're his latest fuck toy aren't you? You reek of him. That's just fucking perfect – I send my drones out for the first injured lab rat they find on the street and not only to do they bring back a Torchwood employee, they bring back the Torchwood employee that Jack Harkness is fucking! Let's see how long this has been going on shall we? ' To Ianto's horror, Krauz leant right in and ran his tongue the length of Ianto's penis, from root to tip, swirled it around the head and then stepped back, a radiant grin on his face, 'not just a fuck toy' he muttered, 'wonderful. Oh I could not have planned this better'.

Ianto was confused. Who the hell was this guy, how did he know what Jack smelled and tasted like. He clearly thought that Ianto was important to Jack, although Ianto couldn't work out why he thought that, however having Jack in the equation seemed to make his captor a little on edge so Ianto looked up at him and gave an enigmatic smile.

'You're not much of a talker are you? ' snarled Krauz, 'is that just you or has Harkness trained you to silence? Is your mouth better suited to other things? You must have some talent for Jack to stay interested in you long enough to scent mark you as his exclusive heart-mate'

Ianto's eyes widened at this and, despite his predicament a thrill of happiness glowed through his body

'However, The man continued, 'this doesn't alter anything except to accelerate the timetable a bit. I imagine Harkness is going to want you back so I'll have to work faster.'

From the delight bubbling through his mind at being marked as Jack's Heart-mate, Ianto pulled a chuckle and a quote,

'Do you expect me to talk?'

Clearly, Ianto thought, Krauz had seen Goldfinger too as he replied,

'No Mr Jones, I expect you to die'

Toshiko Sato was not, she told herself, a naturally violent woman. Generally she preferred to deal with conflict using her intellect rather than her gun but she found herself extremely tempted to shoot Jack Harkness in the head simply to give herself five minutes respite from him.

'Have you found him yet?

'No Jack. I am a bit closer than I was two minutes ago when you last asked me and I can assure you, as I did then, that I still intend to tell you the moment I do!'

Jack dropped a light kiss in the top of her head, 'Am I being annoying?' he asked

Tosh smiled, 'Just a bit'

Jack turned away, 'I feel so useless' he murmured as he moved away. He was halted by a small squeak from Tosh,

'Got them!'

Jack moved swiftly back to her side, 'What have you got?'

Tosh grinned, 'I tracked the ambulance to Newport where they dumped it,' her fingers danced over the key board and together they watched as the two pseudo-paramedics roughly transferred an unconscious Ianto into the back of a SUV and drove off. Tosh continued, 'Tracking the 4x4 was easy, I don't think they expected anyone to be looking for them so quickly, they didn't take even the most basic of precautions, just drove straight – here' she pulled up an image of a non-descript detached house in the middle of a modern housing estate.

'and 'here' is where?'

'Llandysul. It's about 2 hours away from Cardiff'

'OK, good work Tosh. What are we dealing with? Home grown nasties or visitors? Any sign of rift activity in the area?'

Tosh frowned at her screen, 'No...but...I'm picking up the energy signature that looks similar to your vortex manipulator'

'The Time Agency? John?'

'No. Different to John's or yours, but definitely similar'

Jack looked at the energy signature and frowned, 'I know this' he said, 'it must be someone I've worked with...oh gods...it's Krauz. Krauz has Ianto!'

'Jack, who is Krauz?'

But Jack was already in motion, 'send the information to my PDA, Owen! You're with me. Gwen, Tosh, stay on comms, monitor that house'

Krauz had settled himself on the bed next to Ianto and was idly caressing Ianto's chest, amusing himself by rubbing his thumbs over Ianto's nipples to make them hard.

'Time agents work in couples,' he was saying, 'has Jack told you this?' Ianto thought about John Hart and a muscle in his jaw twitched, Krauz noticed and laughed, 'I see you have met John Hart' he said, ' John and Jack did take the couples thing to the extreme but even without the sexual bond the partnerships are strong. If one agent gets injured his partner will care for him. The problem with that is it takes both agents out of the field.'

'Inefficient' grunted Ianto

'Exactly' smiled Krauz, he gestured to the young man who had been standing submissively in the corner of the room, 'Epsilon over there has been genetically engineered as a physiological empath. With access to a DNA sample he and his brethren can heal most wounds. I have tested this theoretically and now I'm ready to begin live subject trials, which is where you come in Mr Jones. I asked my drones to bring me someone injured and here you are!'

Ianto tried to squirm away from Krauz's teasing touch, 'So you didn't target me because of...'

'Jack?'

'Torchwood'

Krauz shook his head, 'I fear not, you are just here because I needed a lab rat although I must admit that having Harkness's heart-mate here is more than I could have hoped for and does give me much more scope than I expected.' He scanned Ianto's cast with his wrist strap. 'Hmm simple fracture, too easy' he adjusted his vortex manipulator and the cast shattered. Ianto cried out as the broken ends of the bones ground together. Krauz took hold of his wrist in a strong grip and crushed the bones whilst giving the whole wrist a vicious twist. A hot lance of agony shot up Ianto's arm and he screamed. Krauz smiled madly and beckoned to the young man in the corner. 'Now Epsilon' he ordered.

Ianto watched as the young man climbed onto the bed. He ran his hand down the length of Ianto's body and brushed his finger over his cock. From the corner of his eye Ianto could see Krauz switching on a video camera and pulling a stopwatch out for his pocket. 'Oh you have got to be kidding me' he growled as Epsilon began to stroke him to hardness. Despite the agony in his freshly injured wrist, Ianto could feel a flare of heat in his groin as the younger man manipulated him to climax. As Ianto spilled hotly into his hand, Epsilon collected his seed and held it in a tightly closed fist. He reached up and placed his come filled hand upon Ianto's shattered wrist, gripping him tightly. Fresh agony flared and Ianto retched.

Owen clutched at his seat belt and tried to tell himself that it was just his viewing angle that made it appear as if the speedometer was reading 135 mph. Gwen had already contacted the relevant police forces so the black SUV was not pulled over and the roads remained miraculously clear. Jack was filling the team in about Krauz, talking as fast as he drove.

'Krauz was head of physiological research when I was at the Time Agency' he said, 'Genius, innovator, but totally amoral. In the end, even the agency couldn't stomach his experiments. He was tried for unethical research on sentient beings and given a dishonourable discharge. He was working on genetic manipulation with a focus upon physiological empathy.'

'Come again?' asked Owen

Jack grimaced, ' The idea is that you can create a being whose physiological system is so highly sensitive that by absorbing the genetic material of another person they can share their immune systems, their healing capabilities and their recovery skills. Put someone like that with field agents and you have a virtually indefatigable army'

'But you said that the Time Agency had discharged him' pointed out Owen,' Why would he still be carrying out his work?'

Jack pulled a face, 'Lots of regimes would pay for this sort of bio-tech' he said, ' but Krauz used to say that the Time Agency was his life. My bet is he wants to prove his theories as a way of getting the agency to reinstate him.'

'Why Ianto?'

'Don't know' said Jack, 'could be sending me a message, could be coincidence. Don't really care, either way. Krauz is psychotic, Ianto is in real danger, he's one of our own and more importantly I want him back.'

Ianto recovered to the sound of Krauz dictating notes on his experience. He looked around, Epsilon was back in his corner, cowering away from Krauz who was striding about the room. Carefully he flexed his now healed wrist but could not suppress a small groan. Krauz turned toward him.

'Ah Mr. Jones, back with us – excellent!' he smirked at Ianto, ' Seven minutes to full erection, two and a half minutes to ejaculation – pitiful, what ever does Jack see in you?'

'Fuck you!'

'Tut tut Mr Jones, you kiss your boss with that mouth?'

Krauz moved closer and made eye contact with Ianto, 'Experiment 1. Simple fracture, from DNA harvesting to complete recovery – 10 minutes' he dictated, he looked at Ianto, 'Experiment 2. Abdominal stab wound...' Ianto's eyes widened with horror as Krauz produced a large knife stabbed him and then extended the wound into a gaping slash across his stomach and blood gouted out and stained the bedding. Ianto screamed and tried to curl his legs up to alleviate the pain.

Krauz laughed and snapped his fingers at the cowering figure in the corner. The boy climbed onto the bed, kicked the blood stained knife to the floor and gently thumbed the tears spilling from the corners of Ianto's tightly shut eyes. He bent forward and placed a tentative kiss on Ianto's mouth and whispered in his ear,

'I am so sorry'

Ianto opened his eyes and stared into the green eyes of the young man, 'I'm sorry too' he stuttered, 'This is no life for you'

'Enough' snapped Krauz, 'Severe stomach wound, penetrative sexual stimulation will be required'

'No' whimpered Ianto, 'please. I don't want this, stop, please'

Krauz smiled, 'Mr Jones, if you do not cooperate with Epsilon you will die – your choice'

Ianto looked into Epsilons face, the young man mouthed 'please let me help' Ianto closed his eyes and nodded.

'Oh get on with it' snarled Krauz, he inspected Ianto's wound, 'use his blood as a lubricant, there's enough of it' he snarked as he clicked the stop watch.

With a small sob, Epsilon swiped his fingers across Ianto's belly coating them liberally with his blood. He tried to be gentle but Ianto let out a scream of agony as the boy's hand accidentally slipped deep into the wound. He lowered his head and sucked Ianto's cock into his mouth; he slid his fingers over Ianto's balls caressing the sensitive skin of his perineum and then inserted two of them into Ianto's arse. He probed deeper and found Ianto's prostate. Time seemed to slow almost to a crawl as he stimulated the spongy gland but eventually Ianto felt himself getting harder. Epsilon murmured meaninglessly against Ianto's cock and he felt himself getting closer. The ache in his balls was counterpoint to the burning heat of his stomach and Ianto could not believe that he could be in such agony and still achieve an erection but the young man was highly skilled and quickly Ianto was coming into empath's mouth.

Epsilon immediately released Ianto and moving up his body to the stomach wound he spat the come from his mouth onto Ianto's injury and vigorously massaged it into Ianto's wound. The pain was unbearable and Ianto lost consciousness.

Jack was driving as if he knew exactly where he was going, Owen realised, he hadn't once looked at the GPS display or asked Tosh for directions. He confidently threw the SUV round a tight corner and sped up through the estate of houses that all looked identical to Owen.

'For fucks sake Jack – slow down' yelled Owen

'Every second I slow down is another second Krauz has to play with Ianto' snarled Jack

'I know, I know but if we scream into a cul-de-sac like the avenging hoards they'll be ready for us – may even kill him before we get to him! Whereas if we just drive in nice and slowly just like two guys coming home from work we have the element of surprise – yes?'

Jack didn't respond but eased his foot off of the accelerator just a little. Owen relaxed in his seat, 'so' he probed, 'you and Krauz I guessing there's history there?'

Jack nodded, 'I told you the time agency prosecuted him for unethical treatment of sentient beings? It was my investigations that lead to that prosecution. It was my recommendations that got him thrown out of the Agency and put an ebony notice on his file'

'An ebony notice?'

'Freezes all past and future assets, restricts travel only to highly advanced planets, revokes all scientific licenses and prohibits time travel. Basically menial unskilled work is all he's allowed to do and even that has to be supervised by court appointed officers. Most people on an ebony notice tend to kill themselves sooner rather than later'

'Shit' said Owen, 'Think that's why he targeted the teaboy? If he knows he's your part-time shag it could be a way of getting to you?'

Silence

Owen looked across at Jack; it was not like him to let Owen get away with a derogatory remark about Ianto. Jack was staring out through the windscreen, silent, biting his lip and a tear was sliding down his cheek.

'Jack?'

Jack swallowed 'If...if this is about me, Krauz will know, he'll know...'

'What Jack? What will he know?'

'Oh gods, Owen he's gonna kill him'

Ianto gradually returned to consciousness, his first involuntary action, to run his hand over the now healed skin of his abdomen. He heard Krauz give a little mad giggle,

'It's good as new' he said, 'all nice and soft for Harkness to come all over.'

Ianto tried to spit at him but his mouth was too dry. Krauz frowned and slapped him, hard. 'Play nice' he snarled. He turned away a continued to dictate his notes, 'abdominal wound – fifteen minutes to erection, 4 minutes to ejaculation, twenty five minutes to complete recovery. Clearly the more severe the wound the longer the DNA harvest and recovery time, this may be reduced in sexually bonded triads.' He turned to faced Ianto, fixed his eyes on him to watch his reaction as he continued,' I need to ensure that all potential field injuries to evaluate the scope of the empath's range. Simple fractures and stab wounds can be healed in around 30 minutes. Need to test the effect of a severe beating. Then a beating with fracturing of main bones, a gunshot wound to the spine and possibly prolonged electrical torture'

Ianto shut his eyes, 'gods Jack, he thought, please find me soon. This mad man is going to kill me and I can't bear the thought of what that will do to you. I wish I could see you again, tell you how much I love you', he managed a small smile, 'want to talk to you about scent marking me too' He looked to the corner where Epsilon continued to cower; he was staring at Ianto with a curious expression on his face.

'Right Mr Jones,' smiled Krauz approaching Ianto carrying a heavy baseball bat, 'shall we get started?' The empath covered his ears and started to cry as Ianto began to scream once more.

Jack carefully turned into the cul-de-sac. 'That's the one' he said to Owen.

'What? How do you know?'

'Jack smiled sadly, 'Inside info'

He bought the SUV to a halt some 20 meters past the building. He turned to Owen,

'Wait here unless I call for you'

'What? No way Jack, I'm coming with you!'

Jack shook his head, 'I can handle this on my own, Owen. I don't know what shape Ianto will be in, what Krauz has done to him. I need to know that you are ready to help him OK?'

Owen moved into the back of the SUV and began to check through his bag, 'Go on Jack, I'll be ready' Jack gave him a grateful nod and turned and jogged up the street.

Ianto was confused, he thought Jack had rescued him from the Brecon cannibals ages ago but now one of them seemed to be back and beating him with the baseball bat he remembered so vividly. His entire body was one massive bruise and he could barely see through his left eye, which was almost swollen shut. He knew most of his ribs were broken and his left elbow was swelling ominously. He knew that he had to hold on; he knew that Jack would be along soon.

'Jack' he screamed, 'Jack'

Krauz laughed, 'Crying for your heart-mate?' he sneered, 'You're pathetic! Harkness isn't here; Harkness won't be along anytime soon. In fact Harkness won't even know I have you until I dump your dead body on his door step. I was going to let you live until I discovered just how important you are to him. He took my reason to live from me and it seems only right that I return the favour.'

'You're wrong' Ianto sobbed, 'I'm nothing but the teaboy and his part-time shag, live or die I mean nothing to him'

Krauz laughed and used the bat on Ianto's ribs again, 'You are his heart-mate' he snarled, 'Harkness has scent marked as such, that means he has linked his life force to you, he loves you and to lose you like this will destroy his mind'

Ianto coughed and spat blood, 'wasting your time, he doesn't love me'

The door crashed open, a shot rang out and Krauz dropped the bat with a curse. With a huge effort, Ianto turned his head towards the noise.

'That's not entirely true' said Jack's voice, 'Krauz I wish I could say it was nice to see you but...well it really isn't!'

'Harkness!' snarled Krauz, 'How did you find me'

'I have a good team and you of all people should know how strong the psychic bond between heart-mates can be'. Jack gestured with the Webley, 'get away from him'

Cradling his injured hand, Krauz moved to lean against the wall. Jack tapped his earpiece,

'Owen come join me. Ianto needs you, come fast Owen'

He kept his gun trained on Krauz but moved to the bed and rested his other hand on Ianto's head. He glanced down at his young lover and forced a smile,

'Hey beautiful' he said softly, tears standing in his blue eyes

'Jack' whispered Ianto

'Oh' sneered Krauz, 'This is almost funny. The great Jack Harkness bought to his knees by an experimental ape from a primitive planet!'

'Be silent' snapped Jack, 'I really don't want to pay more attention than I have to right now'

'Oh I think you will want to pay attention to me' said Krauz raising his hand high in the air and opening his fingers slightly to show Jack what he was holding. Jack froze briefly then pulled Ianto close attempting to shield him with his body; Ianto struggled in Jack's grasp, trying to see what was going on.

'Jack?' he croaked.

'Ianto, he has a Sontaron grenade, very small directional blast radius, it will kill everyone in front of him, leave him unharmed'

'I can't wait to be the one to tell everyone at the Time Agency that Jack Harkness died crying over a pathetic lab rat!' snarked Krauz

Just then there was a flurry of activity and a startled shut from Jack. Epsilon who had been crouched, largely ignored in his corner lunged forward, scooped the discarded knife from the floor and had crossed the room and embedded the weapon in Krauz's heart before anyone could react. Krauz was dead before he hit the floor The young empath looked down at the body dispassionately, bent down a pulled the knife from the corpse and carefully passed the Sontaron grenade to Jack who quickly disarmed it.

Ianto was struggling to sit up,

'Epsilon' he said, 'let us help you' He turned to Jack, 'Krauz genetically engineered...' Jack interrupted him

'I know' he said, 'I know everything' He looked at the empath, ' he's right. Let us help you' he said.

Epsilon smiled sadly, 'No-one has ever felt compassion for me' he told Jack, 'Ianto felt sorrow for me; even in his pain he cared about me. I felt love - his for you, yours for him. What Krauz did was wrong. If I live others will try to replicate his work. This ends with me and it ends now' before either man could stop him he pulled the blade of the knife across his throat and collapsed.

'No!' screamed Ianto and Jack pulled him into his arms and held him tightly.

Owen entered the room at a run and shouldered Jack out of the way as he dropped to his knees and began to examine Ianto.

'Hey teaboy' he said, 'Gonna sort you out and get you home OK? Just giving you some pain killers and a sedative then we'll get you back to the Hub and I'll examine you properly.'

Ianto felt Owen slide the needle into his arm at the same time as Jack placed a kiss on his forehead, then everything went dark

Ianto woke up in his own bed, he could tell by the feel and the weight of the duvet. His ribs still ached as did his elbow but he could tell that he was well on the way to recovery, he recognised the after effects of having been on the receiving end of more than one of Jack's healing kisses. He opened his eyes and looked straight into Jack's clear blue ones. He smiled 'Checking up on me?'

Jack smiled, 'Always' He slid onto the bed and pulled Ianto close to him, burying his face in Ianto's hair.

Ianto luxuriated in Jack's closeness for a brief while than pulled away to look into his face, 'Jack' said Ianto seriously, 'we need to talk'

Jack looked worried. 'OK' he said anxiously

'What does it mean if someone is your heart-mate?'

Jack actually blushed, 'on this planet, the nearest translation would be soul mate, love of your life. On the Boeshane, if a couple decided to be exclusive – which was unusual but not frowned upon- they would mark each other as heart-mates. It meant that they had committed to each other before the community; that they loved each other and would be partnered for eternity. '

'Is that how you knew where to find me?'

'Yes answered Jack, ' It's how I knew what Krauz was up too as well. When the bonding between heart-mates is abnormally intense a physic link forms. Empathy levels go up too – it's probably why I find it so easy to heal you – you are more receptive to me because of the bond'

'Even though I was unaware of it?" asked Ianto 'It must be unusually strong'

Jack nodded thoughtfully

'Erm…Krauz said that you had scent marked me as yours' said Ianto, 'what's that all about?'

Jack's face fell, 'Ianto, I'm so sorry about that' he said miserably, 'usually such marking was by mutual agreement and voluntary but my breeding and my heritage means that I don't have the fine control of pure breds. I didn't set out to do it deliberately but sometimes it is initiated by consistently strong emotional surges and I wasn't aware how strongly I'd done it. Scent marking a partner with their knowledge or consent is unforgiveable, almost the equivalent of rape or slavery. There are pharmacological preparations you can use to disguise my scent, I can get Owen to synthesise them easily enough and obviously if we aren't...um... intimate the scent will diminish over time but even with the drugs it will never really fade. I'm so, so sorry.'

Ianto frowned, 'Jack do you think I'm upset about this?' he said.

Jack wouldn't meet his eye, 'Aren't you?' he said sadly, 'I know what you think about us. I try to protect you and you hate it. You won't let me hold your hand or touch you when we are out. We slept together for nearly six months before you would let me tell the rest of the team about us. You don't want me to live with you, you don't want to live with me and now I've virtually enslaved you by marking you as mine.' His voice trailed away as he looked at Ianto who had rolled onto his stomach and had buried his face in the pillow, his shoulders were shaking. Jack swallowed hard, this is it he thought, he's really upset, you've lost him. He looked down at Ianto and forced himself to articulate the hardest words he had ever had to say 'if you want us to be over and for me to retcon our relationship out of your head, I will'

Ianto rolled over, his eyes sparkled up at Jack and he was helpless with laughter, 'Jack we are so rubbish at this aren't we? I spend all my time trying to stop myself telling you how much I love you in case you think I'm asking for something you can't give me. Scared to touch you in public because I'm worried I might blurt out how I feel about you. Scared to ask you to move in with me because I don't want to pressure you or frighten you off. You can't tell me that you love me for pretty much the same reasons but you unintentionally scent mark me as your soul-mate so that any alien with the appropriate senses has more insight into how important I am to you than I do. I think we both need slapping not retconning!'

Jack smiled, 'I love you Ianto'

Ianto grinned back, 'I love you too'

There was a silence then, 'what now?' said Jack

'Well,' said Ianto, 'Your culture may express their commitment via smell but on my primitive planet we hold out for jewellery.'