Sixty
Title: Sixty
WC: 2680
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Martha, Mickey, Ten
Summary: after the near end of the world events, the Doctor comes to stay at Torchwood for a while.
Notes: HEAVY SERIES FOUR SPOILERS THROUGH JOURNEY'S END.
Is Jack there?
Can't get rid of him.
The Doctor's words were under Ianto's skin. He wasn't jealous, per se, but staring at the Doctor through the computer screen had been enough to set something off in Ianto. Jack would call it jealously. Everyone on the planet would call it jealously. Ianto preferred to think of it more as something akin to the feeling one had minutes after slamming a finger in a door. A nice, dull, heartachey pain.
*
Try as he might, Ianto couldn't hate the Doctor.
"You helped save the Earth!" the Doctor gushed, embracing Ianto tightly. "Thank you."
He was childlike in the way he asked after Gwen ("Where is she, that wonderful, wonderful woman of Welsh? I've got to thank her!") that Ianto had to laugh.
"Where did you pick him up?" Ianto murmured to Jack as they watched Gwen and Martha give the Doctor and Mickey the tour. (He disliked Mickey as well, but that was for an entirely different set of reasons.)
"World War Two."
"Which time?"
"Third to last."
Ianto worked it out in his head. The last time was with the Rift, and Tosh. The second to last time would have been after he was stranded, waiting for the Doctor. And then this time, meeting the Doctor. He wondered how many times Jack had been to World War Two.
Jack grinned, watching Ianto puzzle it out, "You don't want to know how far back it goes."
Ianto quirked an eyebrow, prepared to give a retort when the Doctor gave a loud exclamation, "You have how much space for artifacts?"
Jack waggled his eyes at Ianto, "Twenty quid says I can convince him to stay for a few days." And then dashed off before Ianto could refuse the bet.
"Green olive pizza again," Ianto sighed. It always happened when Jack 'won' his bets. Ianto paid for disgusting pizza. (When there were no bets, or it came out slightly in Ianto's favour, he paid for pizza then too, but the toppings were far more traditional).
"He'll stay!" Jack yelled throughout the Hub, leading the pack out from interrogation. "Ianto, you order pizza?"
"Two cheese and one green olive, sir."
"Good. The Doctor's got something to tell us before it gets here."
("Pizza!" The Doctor was exclaiming to Martha. "I think I might enjoy myself here.")
"Only because we didn't show him the weapons armory," Gwen whispered to Mickey, just loud enough for Ianto and Jack to hear.
"Doctor," Jack said patiently, though the grin never left his face. "What did you have to tell us?"
"Oh … right," the Doctor said, turning serious. "Well, it's about Donna. You can't mention me or any of this to her."
Gwen looked properly horrified, "Why not? Where is she, then?"
He looked devastated for a moment, and Jack moved to touch the Doctor reassuringly.
"I had to wipe her mind. One mention of me, or TARDIS, or you, Jack, and she'll explode."
He looked sad again, and Jack rubbed his arm, trying to cheer him back up.
Ianto didn't think the pizza helped any.
*
After Martha left to go see her fiancee, and with Gwen showing Mickey the ropes, Ianto had nothing else to do but watch either Gwen and that Idiot Mickey 'work' or watch the Doctor and Jack. The choice was easy and once he started watching them, it was easy to see how much Jack adored the Doctor. How much Jack loved the Doctor. How different Ianto and the Doctor were. How Ianto could never own up to the Doctor.
*
The idea of total retconning Donna didn't sit right with him either. Surely there had to have been another way? Martha talked to him about it, in slow whispers, about how Rose got to keep her memories. Ianto's hands curled into fists.
*
The sex was angry; Jack didn't protest it. He just licked Ianto's ear when they were done, "Next time we should bring the Doctor."
*
He tried, he really did, to hate the Doctor.
"Hello, Ianto." He trailed the last vowel out long.
Ianto smirked, "And where's Jack?" The two were always together; except for those few moments Ianto had Jack to himself with sex, and now Jack wanted the Doctor to intrude on that. But Ianto couldn't think of that, now. Now the Doctor was pouting.
"He left. Something happened with the Rift and he told me I absolutely had to stay here."
"You don't have to listen," Ianto said dryly and the Doctor perked up.
"In fact," Ianto said, "you look like you could use some fresh air. Go on, Doctor, so out and see Cardiff like it's never been seen before. If Jack makes it back before you do, I'll tell him I've sent you out."
"Ooo, I can't do that," the Doctor said, frowning slightly. "Oh, brilliant! I know! You'll come too! Show me the town, Ianto!"
"Yes, but someone …" Ianto gestured around the Hub.
The Doctor grabbed his arm, "Nonesense! Come on Ianto! The Hub'll be fine! It's got the TARDIS!"
And Ianto, trying very hard to hate the Doctor and failing, agreed.
Somehow they wound up at the Cinema. There were four people in the theatre, one other couple and them. ("They're so cute!" The Doctor had whispered excitedly, until Ianto shushed him, looking apologetically at the couple.)
The Doctor, Ianto was certain, did not like the experience.
"Weird," he said, over and over again on the ride back to the Hub. "You humans crave communication and contact, and … intimacy! And your idea of a date is to sit in separate chairs in the dark and watch the telly!"
"Doctor," Ianto said, trying hard to keep his voice straight. "They were making out the entire movie."
"Were they? I hadn't noticed. Weird. Absolutely weird."
Jack was waiting when they returned to the Hub. He looked angry, but only for a moment. When he saw Ianto behind the Doctor, his face relaxed, his eyes gleamed, "You boys have a good time?"
The Doctor returned the grin, turning to beam at Ianto, "It was fascinating! Ianto and I need to go see another movie! I missed so much of the action during this one!"
Ianto didn't feel the need to correct Jack's sexual misconstructions about what had "really" happened.
*
It might have been ok then, had it not been for the night the Doctor cried. Ianto, curled outside the door to Jack's office, listened.
"He just killed them all, and he's me, and Davros was right! I am the destroyer! I killed them, I killed them all, and how many have died because of me? I killed Donna too, she'll never know how important she really is! And Rose! She was so young and so impressionable, and of course she fell in love with me, and I destroyed that too! And sticking her with me and thinking that was a happy ending? He's not me, he's only half me, and she'll be so disappointed, and I've messed it up, I've messed all the universes up, and I don't want to go back to the TARDIS anymore!"
There were soft, wet noises that Ianto imagined to be kisses and then Jack said, "Stay here, Doctor. We'll be here for you."
"And you would have blown everything up! And Martha would have destroyed the-"
Jack interrupted with more kisses and the Doctor made a noise that Ianto likened to a crying kitten.
"There, there," Jack murmured, his voice muffled. "There, there Doctor. I'll look after you. It's my turn now."
The Doctor said nothing, which Ianto took to be his 'yes' answer.
*
The sex this time was bitter; and again Jack didn't protest. "I love him," Jack said when they had finished, his breath hot against Ianto's ear.
And what about how I love you? Ianto thought, but did not voice.
*
He could feel sorry, the Doctor had a lot of pains, but Ianto stubbornly didn't want to. It was what the movies often called a 'love triangle'; he loved Jack, Jack loved someone else. It would be bittersweet if the someone else loved Ianto Jones, but someone else was the Doctor and he didn't work like that.
Still, as long as the Doctor was here, it was easy to see how Ianto lost. Jack didn't care about the sex anymore. Jack used him just for the sex. All the emotional aspects of a relationship he soaked up with the Doctor. And now the Doctor needed him.
*
"Jack's gone!" the Doctor said, beaming up to Ianto. "And Gwen's off doing engagement things with Martha, and I don't know where the Idiot went."
"I see," Ianto said. He didn't care, really, since coming to the conclusion that he was slowly being relegated back to the rank of 'teaboy', about anything the Doctor had to say.
"There's a parade today."
"So I've heard."
"I thought we could go see it!"
"Paraded out, sorry."
"Movie?"
"Nothing good playing."
"Fancy just a walk, then?"
"Not my thing, walking."
"Hrm, well, when he gets back, I'll be in the greenhouse, studying the Gklis."
"I shall pass along the message, sir."
He deliberately ignored the Doctor when he yelled and yelled from the Greenhouse, figuring nothing in there would actually attack the Doctor. Unless he provoked it. But even then, nothing should hurt the Doctor. Would serve him right, besides, provoking the plants.
He sipped his tea, sat back on the couch with his book (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Doctor had called it "quaint") and prepared to enjoy what remained of his afternoon.
*
"Ianto!"
"Jack, how was I supposed to know the Gklis don't like sonic energy!"
Jack looked ready to murder. Ianto had seen that look before. It was the look he had been given when Lisa was still loose in the Hub. So this was going to take a while to forgive, then.
"He's hurt!" Jack said. "He's hurt and you ignored his shoutings to read a book! Good thing it was the Doctor and not Gwen or we'd have lost another member of the team tonight!"
"He can handle himself!" Ianto challenged back. "He's fine!"
"He's hurt!"
"He's fine!"
"I am fine," the Doctor said, standing in the doorway, watching them carefully. "Don't mind me, I'm just, ah, observing. Didn't mean to interrupt."
"See?" Ianto snapped. "Fine!" With that, he stalked out of the room, angrilly brushing past the Doctor.
"What was ..?" the Doctor started to say, moving towards the door.
"Let him go," Jack said. "He's probably gone to finish his book."
*
The sex was non-existant, as Jack wouldn't let Ianto apologise.
"Please, anything you want, I'm sorry."
"He was hurt."
"I know," Ianto said softly, resigning himself. "I know."
*
Ianto was hiding again, watching another conversation of the Doctor and Jack. Jack was obscured, but the Doctor was in full profile, and looking both remorseful and cheery at the same time.
"I think I've stayed long enough."
"Doctor, no." Jack sounded as though his heart was breaking on the spot.
"Yes!" the Doctor nearly beamed. "Time to move on, travel on, Jack. I wasn't born to stay in one place."
"You can't leave without saying a proper goodbye!"
"Oh, alright. One more day, then."
Ianto swore the Doctor looked directly at him as he said it.
*
"What about them?"
Ianto sighed, looked at the two girls briefly, "No."
"Them?"
Another group of two girls. "No."
"Them?"
"Doctor, not every pairing of two people is a couple."
"Oh, I know! Them!"
He pointed, speaking loudly. Ianto cringed. "Yes, them."
"Exciting! Are they going to sit by us?"
Ianto hoped not. The Doctor's last day with them, and he had requested they go see a movie. With Jack glaring at him, Ianto couldn't really turn the Doctor down.
"Ohoho!" the Doctor whispered, watching a couple. "That's not really appropriate for a movie theatre, is it?"
Ianto, smiling at the look of disgust on the Doctor's face, was inclined to agree.
*
It was time to say goodbye and Ianto was ready to hate the Doctor again. He stood, arms folded, watching all the other goodbyes first. Just he and Jack left then. The Doctor approached them both, looked somber.
"It's been a good time, hasn't it? I really like this planet." the Doctor waggled his eyes at them. "Especially movie theatres."
Jack laughed and Ianto tried his best not to look surprised.
"And you two!" the Doctor laughed. He shook his finger at Jack, "If I didn't know Ianto any better …"
Jack laughed again, as did Gwen and Martha. Jack drapped his arm over Ianto's shoulders, "Ianto knows how to handle himself."
"Yes, I suppose he does …" the Doctor said. "Oh, well then, c'mere!"
Ianto, surprised by Jack's actions more than anything, took two steps to meet the Doctor, his breath knocked out of him at the force of the hug. He spun Ianto around in the hug, purposefully, Ianto was sure, so that Ianto could see Jack's face.
He looked blissfully happy. Like he was watching something really special happening between two people he loved. Ianto's heart raced and he beamed back at Jack.
"Oh, there's a good boy," the Doctor said softly, releasing Ianto. Ianto nodded, still beaming, and straightened his tie. Don't you see, Ianto could imagine the Doctor saying. He's always loved you just as much.
The Doctor looked immensely proud of something, beaming at the couple for a moment before giving Ianto a stern look, "Now, you keep him out of trouble."
"I'll do my best, sir."
"Yes, and that likely won't be enough," the Doctor muttered, breaking into a grin, holding his arms open for Jack.
Jack laughed and squeezed Ianto's arm before approaching the Doctor. To Ianto's surprise, he didn't hug the Doctor, just stood sharp and at attention and gave a salute.
"Oh, stop that and give me a hug."
"As you wish, sir."
"Now," the Doctor said, stepping effectively out of the hug, closer to the TARDIS. "You'll just have to manage without me for a while. No needing the world saved by me."
"And where are you going?" Gwen asked.
"I shall be off to Mnope to observe the Gklis more carefully."
"Are you sure it's you who won't need saving?" Ianto asked carefully.
Everyone laughed. The Doctor looked at Jack.
"Jack, keep this one out of trouble."
"I'll do my best, sir."
"Yes, and with you, that likely won't be enough."
Jack could have rebutted, but the Doctor was already in the TARDIS, watching it slowly disappear.
"Right then," he said, turning to Ianto. "Greenhouses?"
"If you're going to do that," Gwen said. "We're going out for coffee. And more shopping."
"Have fun boys," Martha teased.
"What's that leave for me?" Mickey asked.
Jack thought about this for a moment, a particular gleam in his eyes.
"You're incorrigible," Ianto whispered. "Mickey, if you don't mind a little shopping adventure of your own, we're running low on coffee."
Content with that, Mickey left.
"Oh, Ianto," Jack sighed. "It was a good time, wasn't it?"
"He is quite the character that Doctor," Ianto agreed. "Can't take him anywhere. Quite like yourself."
"You know," Jack said. "He's like you too. All that emotion he keeps underneath, daring to break the surface. He's a lonely man."
Ianto felt his blood rising. He was going to be very angry, very soon. He was not in the mood to listen to Jack wax poetic about the Doctor.
"But of course," Jack was saying. "He can't compare to you. Won't even entertain the possibility of sex, that man! Now, come on! We've got the entire Hub to ourselves!"
"Ah, so that's it," Ianto said. "All I'm good for is the sex …"
"Oh, you. I do have to watch you, don't I? Clearly you're good for more than that as well. Keeping stopwatches, you're good for that too."
*
This time, Ianto was pleased to note, the sex was amazing.
WC: 2680
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Martha, Mickey, Ten
Summary: after the near end of the world events, the Doctor comes to stay at Torchwood for a while.
Notes: HEAVY SERIES FOUR SPOILERS THROUGH JOURNEY'S END.
Is Jack there?
Can't get rid of him.
The Doctor's words were under Ianto's skin. He wasn't jealous, per se, but staring at the Doctor through the computer screen had been enough to set something off in Ianto. Jack would call it jealously. Everyone on the planet would call it jealously. Ianto preferred to think of it more as something akin to the feeling one had minutes after slamming a finger in a door. A nice, dull, heartachey pain.
*
Try as he might, Ianto couldn't hate the Doctor.
"You helped save the Earth!" the Doctor gushed, embracing Ianto tightly. "Thank you."
He was childlike in the way he asked after Gwen ("Where is she, that wonderful, wonderful woman of Welsh? I've got to thank her!") that Ianto had to laugh.
"Where did you pick him up?" Ianto murmured to Jack as they watched Gwen and Martha give the Doctor and Mickey the tour. (He disliked Mickey as well, but that was for an entirely different set of reasons.)
"World War Two."
"Which time?"
"Third to last."
Ianto worked it out in his head. The last time was with the Rift, and Tosh. The second to last time would have been after he was stranded, waiting for the Doctor. And then this time, meeting the Doctor. He wondered how many times Jack had been to World War Two.
Jack grinned, watching Ianto puzzle it out, "You don't want to know how far back it goes."
Ianto quirked an eyebrow, prepared to give a retort when the Doctor gave a loud exclamation, "You have how much space for artifacts?"
Jack waggled his eyes at Ianto, "Twenty quid says I can convince him to stay for a few days." And then dashed off before Ianto could refuse the bet.
"Green olive pizza again," Ianto sighed. It always happened when Jack 'won' his bets. Ianto paid for disgusting pizza. (When there were no bets, or it came out slightly in Ianto's favour, he paid for pizza then too, but the toppings were far more traditional).
"He'll stay!" Jack yelled throughout the Hub, leading the pack out from interrogation. "Ianto, you order pizza?"
"Two cheese and one green olive, sir."
"Good. The Doctor's got something to tell us before it gets here."
("Pizza!" The Doctor was exclaiming to Martha. "I think I might enjoy myself here.")
"Only because we didn't show him the weapons armory," Gwen whispered to Mickey, just loud enough for Ianto and Jack to hear.
"Doctor," Jack said patiently, though the grin never left his face. "What did you have to tell us?"
"Oh … right," the Doctor said, turning serious. "Well, it's about Donna. You can't mention me or any of this to her."
Gwen looked properly horrified, "Why not? Where is she, then?"
He looked devastated for a moment, and Jack moved to touch the Doctor reassuringly.
"I had to wipe her mind. One mention of me, or TARDIS, or you, Jack, and she'll explode."
He looked sad again, and Jack rubbed his arm, trying to cheer him back up.
Ianto didn't think the pizza helped any.
*
After Martha left to go see her fiancee, and with Gwen showing Mickey the ropes, Ianto had nothing else to do but watch either Gwen and that Idiot Mickey 'work' or watch the Doctor and Jack. The choice was easy and once he started watching them, it was easy to see how much Jack adored the Doctor. How much Jack loved the Doctor. How different Ianto and the Doctor were. How Ianto could never own up to the Doctor.
*
The idea of total retconning Donna didn't sit right with him either. Surely there had to have been another way? Martha talked to him about it, in slow whispers, about how Rose got to keep her memories. Ianto's hands curled into fists.
*
The sex was angry; Jack didn't protest it. He just licked Ianto's ear when they were done, "Next time we should bring the Doctor."
*
He tried, he really did, to hate the Doctor.
"Hello, Ianto." He trailed the last vowel out long.
Ianto smirked, "And where's Jack?" The two were always together; except for those few moments Ianto had Jack to himself with sex, and now Jack wanted the Doctor to intrude on that. But Ianto couldn't think of that, now. Now the Doctor was pouting.
"He left. Something happened with the Rift and he told me I absolutely had to stay here."
"You don't have to listen," Ianto said dryly and the Doctor perked up.
"In fact," Ianto said, "you look like you could use some fresh air. Go on, Doctor, so out and see Cardiff like it's never been seen before. If Jack makes it back before you do, I'll tell him I've sent you out."
"Ooo, I can't do that," the Doctor said, frowning slightly. "Oh, brilliant! I know! You'll come too! Show me the town, Ianto!"
"Yes, but someone …" Ianto gestured around the Hub.
The Doctor grabbed his arm, "Nonesense! Come on Ianto! The Hub'll be fine! It's got the TARDIS!"
And Ianto, trying very hard to hate the Doctor and failing, agreed.
Somehow they wound up at the Cinema. There were four people in the theatre, one other couple and them. ("They're so cute!" The Doctor had whispered excitedly, until Ianto shushed him, looking apologetically at the couple.)
The Doctor, Ianto was certain, did not like the experience.
"Weird," he said, over and over again on the ride back to the Hub. "You humans crave communication and contact, and … intimacy! And your idea of a date is to sit in separate chairs in the dark and watch the telly!"
"Doctor," Ianto said, trying hard to keep his voice straight. "They were making out the entire movie."
"Were they? I hadn't noticed. Weird. Absolutely weird."
Jack was waiting when they returned to the Hub. He looked angry, but only for a moment. When he saw Ianto behind the Doctor, his face relaxed, his eyes gleamed, "You boys have a good time?"
The Doctor returned the grin, turning to beam at Ianto, "It was fascinating! Ianto and I need to go see another movie! I missed so much of the action during this one!"
Ianto didn't feel the need to correct Jack's sexual misconstructions about what had "really" happened.
*
It might have been ok then, had it not been for the night the Doctor cried. Ianto, curled outside the door to Jack's office, listened.
"He just killed them all, and he's me, and Davros was right! I am the destroyer! I killed them, I killed them all, and how many have died because of me? I killed Donna too, she'll never know how important she really is! And Rose! She was so young and so impressionable, and of course she fell in love with me, and I destroyed that too! And sticking her with me and thinking that was a happy ending? He's not me, he's only half me, and she'll be so disappointed, and I've messed it up, I've messed all the universes up, and I don't want to go back to the TARDIS anymore!"
There were soft, wet noises that Ianto imagined to be kisses and then Jack said, "Stay here, Doctor. We'll be here for you."
"And you would have blown everything up! And Martha would have destroyed the-"
Jack interrupted with more kisses and the Doctor made a noise that Ianto likened to a crying kitten.
"There, there," Jack murmured, his voice muffled. "There, there Doctor. I'll look after you. It's my turn now."
The Doctor said nothing, which Ianto took to be his 'yes' answer.
*
The sex this time was bitter; and again Jack didn't protest. "I love him," Jack said when they had finished, his breath hot against Ianto's ear.
And what about how I love you? Ianto thought, but did not voice.
*
He could feel sorry, the Doctor had a lot of pains, but Ianto stubbornly didn't want to. It was what the movies often called a 'love triangle'; he loved Jack, Jack loved someone else. It would be bittersweet if the someone else loved Ianto Jones, but someone else was the Doctor and he didn't work like that.
Still, as long as the Doctor was here, it was easy to see how Ianto lost. Jack didn't care about the sex anymore. Jack used him just for the sex. All the emotional aspects of a relationship he soaked up with the Doctor. And now the Doctor needed him.
*
"Jack's gone!" the Doctor said, beaming up to Ianto. "And Gwen's off doing engagement things with Martha, and I don't know where the Idiot went."
"I see," Ianto said. He didn't care, really, since coming to the conclusion that he was slowly being relegated back to the rank of 'teaboy', about anything the Doctor had to say.
"There's a parade today."
"So I've heard."
"I thought we could go see it!"
"Paraded out, sorry."
"Movie?"
"Nothing good playing."
"Fancy just a walk, then?"
"Not my thing, walking."
"Hrm, well, when he gets back, I'll be in the greenhouse, studying the Gklis."
"I shall pass along the message, sir."
He deliberately ignored the Doctor when he yelled and yelled from the Greenhouse, figuring nothing in there would actually attack the Doctor. Unless he provoked it. But even then, nothing should hurt the Doctor. Would serve him right, besides, provoking the plants.
He sipped his tea, sat back on the couch with his book (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Doctor had called it "quaint") and prepared to enjoy what remained of his afternoon.
*
"Ianto!"
"Jack, how was I supposed to know the Gklis don't like sonic energy!"
Jack looked ready to murder. Ianto had seen that look before. It was the look he had been given when Lisa was still loose in the Hub. So this was going to take a while to forgive, then.
"He's hurt!" Jack said. "He's hurt and you ignored his shoutings to read a book! Good thing it was the Doctor and not Gwen or we'd have lost another member of the team tonight!"
"He can handle himself!" Ianto challenged back. "He's fine!"
"He's hurt!"
"He's fine!"
"I am fine," the Doctor said, standing in the doorway, watching them carefully. "Don't mind me, I'm just, ah, observing. Didn't mean to interrupt."
"See?" Ianto snapped. "Fine!" With that, he stalked out of the room, angrilly brushing past the Doctor.
"What was ..?" the Doctor started to say, moving towards the door.
"Let him go," Jack said. "He's probably gone to finish his book."
*
The sex was non-existant, as Jack wouldn't let Ianto apologise.
"Please, anything you want, I'm sorry."
"He was hurt."
"I know," Ianto said softly, resigning himself. "I know."
*
Ianto was hiding again, watching another conversation of the Doctor and Jack. Jack was obscured, but the Doctor was in full profile, and looking both remorseful and cheery at the same time.
"I think I've stayed long enough."
"Doctor, no." Jack sounded as though his heart was breaking on the spot.
"Yes!" the Doctor nearly beamed. "Time to move on, travel on, Jack. I wasn't born to stay in one place."
"You can't leave without saying a proper goodbye!"
"Oh, alright. One more day, then."
Ianto swore the Doctor looked directly at him as he said it.
*
"What about them?"
Ianto sighed, looked at the two girls briefly, "No."
"Them?"
Another group of two girls. "No."
"Them?"
"Doctor, not every pairing of two people is a couple."
"Oh, I know! Them!"
He pointed, speaking loudly. Ianto cringed. "Yes, them."
"Exciting! Are they going to sit by us?"
Ianto hoped not. The Doctor's last day with them, and he had requested they go see a movie. With Jack glaring at him, Ianto couldn't really turn the Doctor down.
"Ohoho!" the Doctor whispered, watching a couple. "That's not really appropriate for a movie theatre, is it?"
Ianto, smiling at the look of disgust on the Doctor's face, was inclined to agree.
*
It was time to say goodbye and Ianto was ready to hate the Doctor again. He stood, arms folded, watching all the other goodbyes first. Just he and Jack left then. The Doctor approached them both, looked somber.
"It's been a good time, hasn't it? I really like this planet." the Doctor waggled his eyes at them. "Especially movie theatres."
Jack laughed and Ianto tried his best not to look surprised.
"And you two!" the Doctor laughed. He shook his finger at Jack, "If I didn't know Ianto any better …"
Jack laughed again, as did Gwen and Martha. Jack drapped his arm over Ianto's shoulders, "Ianto knows how to handle himself."
"Yes, I suppose he does …" the Doctor said. "Oh, well then, c'mere!"
Ianto, surprised by Jack's actions more than anything, took two steps to meet the Doctor, his breath knocked out of him at the force of the hug. He spun Ianto around in the hug, purposefully, Ianto was sure, so that Ianto could see Jack's face.
He looked blissfully happy. Like he was watching something really special happening between two people he loved. Ianto's heart raced and he beamed back at Jack.
"Oh, there's a good boy," the Doctor said softly, releasing Ianto. Ianto nodded, still beaming, and straightened his tie. Don't you see, Ianto could imagine the Doctor saying. He's always loved you just as much.
The Doctor looked immensely proud of something, beaming at the couple for a moment before giving Ianto a stern look, "Now, you keep him out of trouble."
"I'll do my best, sir."
"Yes, and that likely won't be enough," the Doctor muttered, breaking into a grin, holding his arms open for Jack.
Jack laughed and squeezed Ianto's arm before approaching the Doctor. To Ianto's surprise, he didn't hug the Doctor, just stood sharp and at attention and gave a salute.
"Oh, stop that and give me a hug."
"As you wish, sir."
"Now," the Doctor said, stepping effectively out of the hug, closer to the TARDIS. "You'll just have to manage without me for a while. No needing the world saved by me."
"And where are you going?" Gwen asked.
"I shall be off to Mnope to observe the Gklis more carefully."
"Are you sure it's you who won't need saving?" Ianto asked carefully.
Everyone laughed. The Doctor looked at Jack.
"Jack, keep this one out of trouble."
"I'll do my best, sir."
"Yes, and with you, that likely won't be enough."
Jack could have rebutted, but the Doctor was already in the TARDIS, watching it slowly disappear.
"Right then," he said, turning to Ianto. "Greenhouses?"
"If you're going to do that," Gwen said. "We're going out for coffee. And more shopping."
"Have fun boys," Martha teased.
"What's that leave for me?" Mickey asked.
Jack thought about this for a moment, a particular gleam in his eyes.
"You're incorrigible," Ianto whispered. "Mickey, if you don't mind a little shopping adventure of your own, we're running low on coffee."
Content with that, Mickey left.
"Oh, Ianto," Jack sighed. "It was a good time, wasn't it?"
"He is quite the character that Doctor," Ianto agreed. "Can't take him anywhere. Quite like yourself."
"You know," Jack said. "He's like you too. All that emotion he keeps underneath, daring to break the surface. He's a lonely man."
Ianto felt his blood rising. He was going to be very angry, very soon. He was not in the mood to listen to Jack wax poetic about the Doctor.
"But of course," Jack was saying. "He can't compare to you. Won't even entertain the possibility of sex, that man! Now, come on! We've got the entire Hub to ourselves!"
"Ah, so that's it," Ianto said. "All I'm good for is the sex …"
"Oh, you. I do have to watch you, don't I? Clearly you're good for more than that as well. Keeping stopwatches, you're good for that too."
*
This time, Ianto was pleased to note, the sex was amazing.