Just Imagine...

Was it Not Obvious to You?

"I miss him, Sam." Ianto murmured, knowing it was Sam without even turning around from his desk in the archives.
"I know you do, baby," Sam sighed, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder, "I miss him too."
Ianto leaned into her, burying his face in her long hair and sniffling as she put her arms around him. When Jack had disappeared, Ianto had just about turned the entire hub upside down searching for him. But he was nowhere to be found. Nowhere in Cardiff at all. Maybe not even on Earth anymore.
"Maybe we should search the hub again," Ianto said, pulling out of Sam's embrace, "maybe he just got lost and-"
"Ianto, you've searched this whole place from top to bottom," Sam cut him off, "I'm sorry, but he's gone. You were thorough to the point of obsessiveness."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Ianto, you just about tore everything in here to pieces! Are your feelings for Jack not obvious to you by now?"
"Feelings? What feelings? I don't have any feelings for Jack!"
"Then why are you being so defensive?"
"Because... I don't know!"
Sam put her arm around his shoulders again and they stared into the darkness of the archives in silence for a while.
"Do you... wanna talk about it?" Sam asked finally.
"No." Ianto growled. Then he thought about it. "How would I know?"
"Huh?" Sam asked, "come again?"
"How would I know I have... feelings for Jack? Wh-what about when I used to write his name over and over again on lose scraps of paper and hide them before anyone saw?"
"Sounds like you were crushing on him."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"And when I got so upset about him flirting with an alien?"
"You were jealous because you want him to like you back so desperately."
"I see..."
They stayed in the archives for long into the night, just talking and thinking.

Ianto couldn't sleep. His bed on the Stegman ship was too cold, too hard, too big and empty for him. He quietly slipped out from under the thin blanket he'd been given and tiptoed across the room to Sam's bed.
"Sam," he whispered, "are you awake?"
"No," Sam mumbled, "go back to your room, Hanna, there's no monsters under your bed." 
"Sam!" Ianto hissed, poking her in the shoulder.
"WHAT?" Sam barked, leaping up to grab Ianto by the throat, then quickly letting him go when she saw it was him, "AY! Sorry Ianto, you startled me! What's up?"
"I was going to ask if I could sleep with you but now I think I'll go ask Gwen-"
"No no. C'mon. The bed's huge."
Sam scooted over and patted the empty space next to her on the mattress. Ianto smiled gratefully and got under the blanket with her.
"Thank you." He whispered. Sam sighed happily, moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around him. She was such a cuddly person, it reminded him of Jack.
Jack.
"You still awake?" He asked Sam.
"I will be if you keep talking." Sam grumbled.
"Sorry," Ianto murmured, "I'll stop."
He bit his lip in the moment of silence that followed.
"Say what you wanna say, Ianto," Sam sighed gustily, "if you don't, you'll be stiff as a board all night long."
"It's about Jack," Ianto said, and he felt Sam tense ever so slightly, "what are some other signs that I... y'know. That time he touched my shoulder and I couldn't breathe for a second?"
"Yes." Sam answered.
"When I had that incredibly vivid dream about his lips?"
"Yes."
"The times I would go into his office when he wasn't there and smell his coat?"
"Kinda creepy, but yes."
Ianto was silent for a moment, thinking.
"Do you think he killed Lisa out of jealousy?" He asked.
Sam stared at him in the dark with a concerned expression.
"I... fucking hope not!" She replied.
Ianto rolled his eyes.
"I was kidding." He mumbled.
"Well I'll tell ya one thing; your heart rate definitely increases whenever you talk about him." Sam chuckled.
"It does not!" Ianto protested, just now realizing that his heart was beating a little faster than usual. There was another feeling too. "Sam..." he began, "have you ever felt like there are birds in your stomach?"
"Birds?" Sam echoed, raising an eyebrow.
"Like a flock of starlings or something? Or just... something that flutters... and tickles a bit... in your belly?"
Sam chuckled again.
"Sounds like you have butterflies," she murmured, "that's normal. Don't worry."
"I'm not," Ianto replied, "in fact... I think I like it."
He moved his hand to his stomach, right over the feeling of little bird wings fluttering inside. He thought about Jack. His heart pounded, and he felt his face starting to flush.

"And then I said 'your mom's a laser screwdriver!'" Jack exclaimed, concluding his joke. Ianto promptly burst out laughing, so hard he snorted. Maybe it was just because he was so glad Jack was home, even though the incident with John Hart was still fresh in his mind and they all had to stay in a hotel room for the night to avoid bumping into their past selves.
Jack was smiling when Ianto finally stopped laughing.
"One second," Ianto murmured, wiping tears of mirth from his face, "I, uhh... forgot to tell Sam something."
"Okay." Jack said, still beaming. Fuck, he was so gorgeous, it wasn't fair.
In the room next door, Sam was relaxing in her bed, wearing nothing but the hotel bathrobe she'd been provided. She was almost ready to drift off to sleep when Ianto came in, knocking on the door as he opened it.
"Sam," he said, "don't freak out but I think I'm in love with Jack."