An indistinguishable noise reverberated loudly in the empty Hub, shaking Jack loose from his thoughts and putting him on alert.

'Shit. How long have I been sitting here?', he wondered looking at his watch. About an hour had passed since he had sent everyone home, or at least it had been about an hour since he had thought everyone left. He entered the main area of the HUB and could see all the lights had been turned out, all except one … in the boardroom. The boardroom was illuminated with what looked to be only the soft blue light coming from the monitor on the wall. Jack's heart sped up as he was filled with anxiety while simultaneously shaking off an eerie sort of deja vu as he slowly headed upstairs to check it out.

Jack silently ascended the metal staircase and cautiously stopped just outside the doorway of the boardroom, peering inside. His heart clenched as he saw Ianto was sitting alone, with head in his hands and his elbows resting on the tabletop, silently crying and staring down at the table. Jack knew how Ianto felt about showing his emotions publicly and didn't want to embarrass him, but the sight of him so upset and instinctively knowing that he was most likely the cause, made Jack's heart ache to hold him and make everything okay.

“Ianto, please don't cry. I'm so sorry about earlier, tell me how I can fix this.” he pleaded as he sat down next to Ianto and stroked his back lovingly. Ianto never looked up, though he replied softly, “It's okay, Jack. I understand, you-.”

Jack cut him off. “It's not okay, Ianto! I hurt you, made you cry. You never cry, you're one of the strongest men I know. So don't tell me it's okay, Ianto, because I know it's not.”

There was a long silence, until Ianto said almost inaudibly, “It's just that- I thought that I'd lost you, Jack”, his gaze slowly lifted to Jack's face, showing beautiful eyes marred by tears. “And then I get you back and I was so relieved only to have you turn around and push me away.”

"I know, Ianto, I thought I'd lost you, too ..." replied Jack almost as quietly “you know, when I was- never mind, it doesn't matter.”, he put hims arms around Ianto drawing him close. This quiet, unfinished admission giving Ianto a small clue as to how horrific what Jack had endured might have been as he continued, “I didn't mean to react that way, it was just-” Jack sort of faded, his eyes glassing over as he got a faraway look on his face and sat unmoving for a long moment before he flinched a look of physical pain flashing across Jack's face.

Ianto's pity for himself disappeared instantly as his concern became focused solely on Jack “Jack, what's the matter? JACK?!” Ianto insisted as his eyes and hands searched Jack over carefully as if searching for some overlooked mark, his hand coming to rest on top of Jack's on the table, as Jack closed his eyes, nodding lightly.

“Are you sure you're alright?”

Ianto watched the awareness slowly return to his eyes and Jack spoke quietly, “Yes, I'm- I'm fine now … all thanks to you.” he said as he covered Ianto's hand with his other and smiled lovingly at him. “You … came for me … risked yourself … to save me." Jack whispered tearfully, a look of awe in his eyes, eyes that quickly turned steely. “Please promise me you'll never do that again, I couldn't live with myself if you- ” he swallowed hard, choking back the thought of Ianto hurt or worse, not able to even say it out loud, “ … because of me.”

“I had to, Jack, and I'd do it again. The thought of you stuck there, tortured, for the rest of eternity, all because you aren't able to d-” Ianto faltered, unable to finish the word, emotion welling up, “It … broke my heart, Jack, the thought of you in that kind of pain- ”

Jack reached out, laying his fingers on Ianto's trembling lips, “Shh, you brought me back.” he whispered as he stared into Ianto's eyes, stroking the side of Ianto's face gently. “That's all that matters now.”

Ianto wiped his eyes brusquely with the back of his hand and sniffed, stating self-deprecatingly, “You were the one, you know, yet I'm the one sitting here crying. God, you must think I'm such a prat.” he rolled his eyes, annoyed with himself, shaking his head.

Jack smiled adoringly at him and kissed him softly on the lips with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “I think it's kinda cute … you so missed me.”

“You going to tell me about it ?” he asked quietly, thinking that just this once, Jack might really might need him to ignore the inclination that he shouldn't pry. He didn't think he should wait and hope that Jack would tell him if and when he was ready, which to be honest, would probably be never. Ianto still wasn't privy to all the events of the time Jack spent away from him with the Doctor. When Jack didn't respond, Ianto backed down. “N-Never mind, Jack … um, you don't need to- ” he trailed off as he lowered his eyes to the table again, muttering “S'none of my business. ”

Jack knew that he needed to talk this out with Ianto, he was the only one Jack trusted enough, the one who might possibly understand the despair he felt. He hated the thought of keeping it from Ianto, but hated the thought of laying himself so emotionally bare as he would have to do if he explained his version of 'Hell' to his lover. The thought of how Ianto no doubt would be hurt by the unveiling of the truth weighed heavy on Jack as well. Ianto would certainly feel personally responsible for it, even though it was logically impossible for him to be at fault. Jack knew Ianto would take the blame on himself, earned or not and in this case, logic be damned.

“Ianto-” Jack started to answer then, shuddering slightly glanced around the boardroom, a chill running down his spine, as a wave of nightmarish memories quickly flooded his brain, momentarily forcing him to relive the soul-crushing events from earlier in an exact replica of this room. Events which knew logically had taken place 'there', but his mind and body were not quite in agreement on that fact. Therefore, Jack's body reacted to the resemblance of this darkened room to the one from 'Hell' and he was swiftly swept up in the midst of a blind panic, his heart racing, mouth going dry, feeling an overwhelming and undeniable urge to run, to escape.

“Jack?” Ianto was instantly aware that Jack's normal breathing pattern had changed, becoming more rapid, though not in excitement, but in … was it fear? Surely not fear, Jack never showed fear. In all the time Ianto had been at Torchwood, this was the one emotion he had never seen displayed by his lover. The very thought of anything happening to Jack which had been damaging enough to be able to instill fear in him over it sent a chill down Ianto's spine, a chill that settled heavy and thick into his very core.

“C'mon.” Jack blurted as he visibly flinched, then unsuccessfully tried to mask his feelings with a little flirty smile, which came across as halfhearted at best. “Um … buy me a drink?”

“Sure, or we could … uh, always go back to mine?” he offered hesitantly. Ianto could see the desperation in his eyes, the need for escape etched deeply in Jack's face, all the signs screaming his frantic need to get away, to be anywhere but here. Ianto felt a pang in his heart, wanting nothing more than to give Jack whatever he needed from him, as Jack had done for him so many times before.

'Yes, please, yes' Jack thought, that's exactly where he wanted to be right now, no, where he needed to be was with Ianto, to be wrapped in his strong arms, where he always felt safe and protected. Jack still couldn't admit, even to himself, just how much he needed his young Welshman sometimes. Tonight, he desperately needed Ianto, not only to comfort him, to hold him, to love him, but to make him feel whole again.

“I like the way you think, Jones.” Jack attempted his trademark leer, still trying hard to hide his fear from Ianto and failing miserably.