Lovers Passed 3/3
Title: Lovers Passed part 3/3
Authors: maverick0324 and athousanderrors
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Jack, Jack/Ten, Jack/Ianto, Ianto/Lisa, Gwen, Owen, Toshiko.
Word Count: 5,891 this part.
Rating: R
Summary: The past is in the past, but when time isn't linear, can anything ever really stay gone?
Spoilers: Series 1 of Torchwood.
Author's Notes: Cowriting is good for the soul. But bad for the social life. Concrit loved, feedback adored. Flamers will be fed to Myfanwy.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Jack was hurrying as fast as he could, pulling out wires and ripping them apart, moving back up to the conversion table and pulling down blades and the mechanical arms. He was almost finished when the soft click came over his headset.
"Ianto?" He answered, his eyes widening and his heart freezing up when Ianto continued. "Ianto! No!" Jack grabbed his gun and jumped down from the table, blasting the entire thing a few times before finally hurrying out the door.
"Ianto? Ianto?!!!" Jack tried, his gun out as he charged through a bunch of Cybermen, blasting at them as he went.
“Jack, what’s going on?!” Tosh stopped in the middle of her calculations, not having heard Ianto’s message but hardly able to ignore Jack’s shouting on all channels. The Doctor looked up, worried, but turned his attention back to the TARDIS console, panel open in front of him, wires and bits of elastic littering the floor. Handy thing, rubber bands. Second only to duct tape in his opinion.
"I don't know... Tosh can you get a lock on him and tell me where he is?" Jack asked as he turned another corner, quickly back tracking once he saw the cybermen.
"Sure no problem..." Tosh tried to put a lock on his signal.
"Jack.."
"Not right now Gwen!" Jack ran through the maze of corridors, trying to lose the cybermen and find Ianto.
"Jack, I can't find Ianto, he's not coming up on the readings." Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Jack!"
"What, Gwen?!" Jack turned another corner and then another.
"The Cybermen, they got out."
“They’re in the Hub.” Owen sounded panicked. “We’re holding them back for now, but….fucking hell, how many of them are there?” There was the sound of gunshots, cursing, and energy blasts as Owen turned to his slightly more high tech weapon.
“Gwen, get the hell out of there!”
“I can’t! There’s too many of them!”
“Gwen Cooper, get your fat arse out of that water!” Owen sounded more terrified than pissed off, rightly so as one of the Cybermen stooped, touched the surface of the water, sending electricity arcing through the water. Luckily, Gwen had spotted a gap, managing to clamber out of the pool and up on to one of the platforms.
Jack turned down one last hallway and saw a crumpled body on the floor. "No, no, no oh God no..." He mumbled to himself running over and falling to his knees, and turning Ianto onto his back.
"God damnit Ianto..." Jack choked back, pulling off his comm signal for the moment. Not really wanting them all to be witness to his breakdown here in the middle of a dead end tunnel deep inside Torchwood.
Jack stroked softly down Ianto's cheek and leaned over, kissing him and hoping that enough life was left in the body that he could help it along.
Light and pain and heat and oh God he hurt all over. Gasping, the first thing Ianto was really aware of was lips against his, Jack’s arms around him. He couldn’t open his eyes, couldn’t even move. He moaned softly as Jack lifted him up a little, the movement making his muscles scream, shaking as phantom jolts of electricity seemed to move through him.
“J’ck.” He breathed, voice slurred.
Slowly he could feel a response and Jack almost let go out of surprise. Instead, he brushed his hand slowly down Ianto's arm to grasp his hand and tangle his fingers with Ianto's. Ever so slowly, Jack could feel the life force returning to Ianto.
Finally Jack let go of Ianto long enough to breathe, Ianto was in his arms, eyes open and breathing and oh God it felt good. "What was that you said about not doing dumb heroics?"
“Wasn’t dumb.” Ianto pointed out, wincing, still not quite able to focus on Jack. “S’ved you.” He smiled a little, trying to sit up and quickly realising that was a bad bad idea.
“D’lta wave?” He asked, hoping Jack got his meaning. He couldn’t really manage long sentences right now. Electrocution did that to a bloke. He couldn’t help but enjoy Jack’s arms around him, though. Gradually, feeling was starting to return, pins and needles in the wake of numbness. He preferred the numbness.
"It should be done by now..." Jack looked at Ianto, there was no way he was leaving him here. "This is going to be undignified, a bit painful and probably very hilarious later." Jack warned him before picking Ianto up and heaving him over a shoulder.
"But I have to work a gun, cybermen are still after me." And if he listened closely he could hear the dull clanking of their boots. "Fuck, we gotta move."
Grabbing his gun, Jack hurried off for the nearest entrance to his secret tunnels.
Ianto managed to hold in a yelp of pain, unable to even help hold himself up. Mind you, he did have a rather nice view from this angle.
“R’mind me of this view wh’n I can do somethin’ about it.” He mumbled to Jack, wincing as Jack began to jog slowly, unable to do anything but be a dead weight. He looked up, shiver running through him as he spotted Cybermen down the corridor.
“Jack, move!” He hissed, watching as one of the Cybermen turned, spotting them. “Behind you!”
"Fucking hell." Jack groaned and began running down the hall, trying not to jar Ianto too much as he finally saw the door and punched in a keycode. The door swung open and then shut again behind him as he relaxed against the wall, letting Ianto slide from his grasp.
Grabbing Ianto's face, he pulled him in for a kiss, his fingers curling around Ianto's ears as he kissed the man desperately. "Never do that again." Jack growled, moving to kiss him once more. "Stupid fucking..." And once more. "God.."
Ianto gasped into the kiss, wishing he could hold Jack just as tight, reassure the other man that he was here, that he was ok. All he could do was clutch weakly at his shirt, rely on Jack to hold him up.
“It worked.” He pointed out between kisses, hungry and desperate, and it might have been a little weird that Jack’s passionate growl made him shiver. It was almost worth dying, just to put that note in Jack’s voice.
"Not the point." Jack growled back, one arm sliding down to wrap securely around Ianto's waist and hold him close. When Jack pulled back he began to pant softly, his forehead resting against Ianto's own. "Don't want to lose you okay?" Jack said, just a note of terror still quivering in his voice as he finally pulled away.
"Now come on, the delta wave should be powered up by now."
“You won’t.” Ianto whispered, smiling softly. Managing to stand on his own, just for a moment, he slid his arm around Jack’s shoulder.
“Your gun broke.” He murmured. “I threw the bloody thing at its head.” He tried not to lean too heavily on Jack, ignoring his screaming muscles for now, knowing that getting to the room, powering up the delta wave was much more important than his own discomfort.
Jack nodded at at Ianto's story. "Sonic blaster. It's the special features, it really drains the batteries." He would know, having been on the end of a dead sonic blaster many times in his long life.
"Doctor, how is that time rift going?" Jack asked, after he fished and found his communicator.
"I need a few more minutes, why?" The Doctor seemed to be growling back at him.
"The delta wave is operational--"
"You have a delta wave?!"
"Well, really more of a beta wave..."
"Oh. Well then, yeah just a few more moments..."
Shuffling along on feet that were rapidly becoming more painful than numb, Ianto made slow progress, with Jack’s help. He leant against the wall just inside the room they had left, sliding slowly down to sit on the floor as Jack shut and locked the door, jogging over to the control panel, checking the wave.
“Will it hurt us?” He looked up at Jack. “The wave?”
"It shouldn't, lets say that." Jack answered, moving Ianto to sit down and joining him for the moment, his hand running through Ianto's hair and down his neck to his chest where his heart beat reassuringly.
Jack just sat there, not saying anything but feeling Ianto's heartbeat until the Doctor came back over the comm's. "The rift has been tapped on to and shut down!" The Doctor's maniacal giggle could be heard over the comm's as well as Tosh's own quiet laughter.
Grinning, Jack helped Ianto up and over to the lever, "Do the honours?"
Ianto couldn’t help but smile a little at Jack’s soft caress, shifting closer, tilting his head towards the other man. He groaned as Jack helped him to his feet, wondering why he had to move. His breath caught as Jack showed him the lever, letting him do it. He understood why; didn’t think he could thank Jack, explain in words what this meant.
He wrapped his hands around the lever, closing his eyes for a moment.
“For Lisa.” He murmured, mouth set in a thin line, as he pulled the lever down sharply.
Jack smiled as he watched the look on Ianto's face go from terror, to determination to a sort of almost tranquil calm. Smiling, Jack enfolded the man in his arms and kissed him softly before helping him out of the secret tunnels.
"I want you to stay here, you’re going to be pretty weak for a long while yet." Jack helped Ianto into his bed, pulling a blanket around his shoulders and handing him a gun... just in case. "I'll be right back..." Jack murmured, heading back out into the hub to see strewn metallic Cybermen pieces laying everywhere.
Ianto opened his mouth to argue, but he knew just as well as Jack that he would be utterly useless out there. He managed to toe off his shoes; shirt, tie, and trousers slowly struggled out of, abandoned on the floor next to Jack’s bed. He huddled down under the blanket, gun loosely clasped in one hand as he rolled onto his side.
He’d close his eyes, just for a second. Just until Jack came back.
Jack watched as Tosh came out of the Tardis, the Doctor bubbling over her and as Gwen and Owen crawled out of their own hiding places, shaking and holding onto each other in a way that only near death can bring out.
"Are they dead?" Tosh asked softly, picking up a head from one of the scraps on the floor.
"They're dead." The Doctor assured, walking over to Jack and hugging him, clapping him on the back. "Beta wave?" He said, looking at him suspiciously.
"Just a little something I've been working on." Jack answered sheepishly, following the Doctor up into his office as the others began picking up stray pieces.
Ianto blinked, realising he’d fallen a little more deeply asleep than he’d thought. And his muscles really didn’t like him for it. Hissing, he rolled onto his back, aching from head to toe as he tried to move.
Well, he could at least get himself across the room. Jack had painkillers in his desk, he knew that. Ianto blushed as he tried to walk, realising that crawling was basically his only option. Wonderful. He made his way to the foot of the ladder that led up into Jack’s office, pausing for breath at the bottom.
That pause meant he could overhear what was going on above.
“It’s brilliant, I can’t believe we never found one to watch before…completely amazing, I swear. Watching a star just..explode, into nothingness. And the noise…all that stuff about in space no one can hear you scream? Rubbish. The sound a supernova makes…fantastic. Trust me, you’ll agree with me when you see it.”
Ianto clapped his hand over his mouth to hold in a gasp. No. No, Jack couldn’t leave. Not now. Please.
But then, hadn’t they had a conversation about this? About how utterly dizzying being around the Doctor was? Jack had probably forgotten all about him. His eyes closed tight for a moment, willing the burn away from his eyes, that telltale prickling. He wouldn’t. Not over this.
Slowly, he turned, starting the (seemingly endless) crawl back to Jack’s bed.
"I can't." Jack replied softly, taking the pictures from the Doctors hands and setting them back where they were.
"You want to try life on the slow path?" He sounded a bit incredulous at that.
"I've been on the slow path for a long time, hate it." Jack answered with a soft laugh, his eyes automatically going to the manhole and what was down there.
"Then why--"
"Let's say I've found more than a good enough reason to anyways." Jack said softly, leaning forward and kissing the Doctor. "Good bye old friend." He said smiling and stepping back.
"Good bye indeed Captain Harkness." The Doctor smiled and saluted him before leaving his office.
With a soft sigh, Jack climbed down the ladder, confused when he found Ianto curled up in the middle of his floor. "I thought I said to stay in bed..." Jack murmured, picking him up and sitting him back on the bed.
“I was trying to find painkillers.” Ianto murmured, not looking at Jack. He crawled under the covers, slowly, turning away from Jack, curling up gingerly, ignoring the protests of his body. He was shaking, sore and upset and a little in shock. It wasn’t every day you wiped out a large group of the things that had killed your girlfriend, after all.
"I'll go grab you some." Jack answered, putting Ianto down on the bed gently before climbing the ladder and getting the painkillers and a glass of water. "Here, you'll feel better." Jack grinned and handed them over, climbing over Ianto and into bed.
Ianto swallowed the pills gratefully, downing the glass of water and setting the empty glass on the nightstand. He stiffened as Jack pulled him into his arms, partly from pain, partly because he wasn’t sure he wanted to be anywhere near Jack right now.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting into bed, is that a problem?" Jack asked, shucking his shirt and pulling Ianto back against him.
It was if Jack was going to leave him, after all of this. After all he’d said. He didn’t even know if Jack had heard him - the Cyberman’s electrocution had come too quickly, obliterating all thought, the memory of those last few seconds.
"Ianto, you need to relax..." Jack said softly, his hands rubbing soothingly at the other man's back, pulling him close and burying his nose in Ianto's neck and just breathing him in. It was times like this that made him feel that the slow path was entirely worth it.
Jack laid with Ianto until he was sure the pills had taken affect and then slipped away and back out into the hub. There were still bits of debris and cyber unit everywhere despite the others attempts at cleaning up. Jack smiled and sent them all home and rolled up his sleeves to deal with the mess himself.
Ianto couldn’t help but do as Jack said - the slow stroke of hands, knowing Jack was there combined with the pills, quickly pulled him under. His face slowly relaxed, lines of pain smoothing out as his sleep deepened. He didn’t even feel Jack leave, slowly spreading out across the bed, taking up as much room as he could as he slept soundly.
Eventually, he awoke. Alone. The rest of the bed was cold, no sign that Jack had even been there. Jack’s clothes were gone, his coat…
He didn’t even stay to say goodbye. Again. Ianto fought the urge to just crumble, feeling as though his skin had been torn away, raw and open and aching, nothing to protect himself. It hurt too much. Everything was too much. He couldn’t stay here. Not with so many memories around him. Not when the bed still smelt of Jack.
Slowly, stiffly, he levered himself to his feet, pulling on trousers and shirt and shoes, pausing to catch his breath at the bottom of the ladder, before slowly climbing up into Jack’s office. He didn’t even notice that there were tears running down his face. Didn’t care, now.
Jack slowly carried bits of broken up Cyberman and part of the conversion unit into the incinerator, burning them until there was nothing left but a bit of ash and smoke. A small army of Cybermen and they had sustained only small emotional scarring that would probably last a lifetime.
It was incredible.
Parts of the hub were destroyed. Ianto would be furious when he realised the state the archives were in, but then Jack didn't plan on telling him for awhile.
He slowly made his way back out to the hub, picking up broken pieces as he went, pausing when he saw Ianto awake and in his office. "Ianto?"
Ianto was trying to find the spare keys to the SUV, not having the strength to go searching for his suit jacket right now. His head snapped up as someone called his name, mouth falling open as he spotted Jack. Jack, who was filthy and dishevelled and looked exhausted. Jack, who had clearly been busy tidying while he slept.
Swaying, he tried to run to him, nearly falling twice before slowing his steps, hobbling over to him. He hugged Jack tightly, clutching at him, burying his face against Jack’s neck.
“I thought you left again.” He choked out, shaking.
Jack was taken a back at the strength to which Ianto clung to him, his face burying itself in his shoulder. "Oh Ianto...." Jack shook his head and kissed his cheek, his arms going around the younger man's body to hold him close.
"I'm not planning on leaving you again, not after--" Jack couldn't say it and couldn't quite bring himself to admit to everything that had transpired between them in such a short time. "Not after everything."
“I…I heard the Doctor…” Ianto admitted, wobbling slightly even as his arms tightened around Jack. “I thought…it sounded like you were leaving.” He leant more firmly against Jack, wanting nothing more than to sleep for the next twenty years. Maybe with waking up for food in between.
“Is he still here?” He asked, looking around warily. He couldn’t trust the Doctor. Not with Jack.
"No, the Doctor left. Not without trying to convince me to go wit him to see a supernova explode... and then try and convince Tosh to come along and help him out." Jack laughed softly, his arms cradling Ianto to him. "I think it was much harder for Tosh to turn him down, I'm surprised she did actually."
"You feeling hungry at all? Anything you want?"
Ianto shook his head, sighing at the strong arms wrapped around him.
“You.” He murmured, simply. “I just…just want to lie down for a bit. With you.” He flushed, feeling a little embarrassed about asking, nervous that Jack was going to turn him down. He didn’t necessarily want sex (tempting, but ow), he just wanted Jack to hold him, wanted the reassurance. To know that they were both ok.
Jack smiled and took Ianto's hand and began to slowly lead him back upstairs to his bed. Jack began slowly undressing Ianto, pulling his jacket off and then undoing each button of his shirt slowly and pushing it off. "Shh, it's okay." He whispered, leaning over and kissing him softly before working against his trousers.
Quickly shedding his own clothes, Jack led Ianto back to the bed and pulled him close to him, his arms wrapping around his waist as he pressed his chest to Ianto's back, his hands slowly petting at Ianto's chest.
Ianto was nearly dead on his feet, unresisting as Jack stripped him, sliding gladly into bed with him. He held Jack close, his fingers lacing with Jack’s, holding one hand close against his chest, fingers tucked under his chin.
“I love you.” He whispered, daringly, dipping his head to kiss Jack’s palm, fingers carefully wiping away a smudge of dirt, the smears of dried blood from where Jack had dismantled the conversion unit.
Jack rolled Ianto over gently, pressing his lips to Ianto and kissing him gently and then more insistently. "I know Ianto." He murmured, watching as the other man slowly slipped into sleep.
"I love you too." He murmured, almost audible.
THE END.
Authors: maverick0324 and athousanderrors
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Jack, Jack/Ten, Jack/Ianto, Ianto/Lisa, Gwen, Owen, Toshiko.
Word Count: 5,891 this part.
Rating: R
Summary: The past is in the past, but when time isn't linear, can anything ever really stay gone?
Spoilers: Series 1 of Torchwood.
Author's Notes: Cowriting is good for the soul. But bad for the social life. Concrit loved, feedback adored. Flamers will be fed to Myfanwy.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Jack was hurrying as fast as he could, pulling out wires and ripping them apart, moving back up to the conversion table and pulling down blades and the mechanical arms. He was almost finished when the soft click came over his headset.
"Ianto?" He answered, his eyes widening and his heart freezing up when Ianto continued. "Ianto! No!" Jack grabbed his gun and jumped down from the table, blasting the entire thing a few times before finally hurrying out the door.
"Ianto? Ianto?!!!" Jack tried, his gun out as he charged through a bunch of Cybermen, blasting at them as he went.
“Jack, what’s going on?!” Tosh stopped in the middle of her calculations, not having heard Ianto’s message but hardly able to ignore Jack’s shouting on all channels. The Doctor looked up, worried, but turned his attention back to the TARDIS console, panel open in front of him, wires and bits of elastic littering the floor. Handy thing, rubber bands. Second only to duct tape in his opinion.
"I don't know... Tosh can you get a lock on him and tell me where he is?" Jack asked as he turned another corner, quickly back tracking once he saw the cybermen.
"Sure no problem..." Tosh tried to put a lock on his signal.
"Jack.."
"Not right now Gwen!" Jack ran through the maze of corridors, trying to lose the cybermen and find Ianto.
"Jack, I can't find Ianto, he's not coming up on the readings." Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Jack!"
"What, Gwen?!" Jack turned another corner and then another.
"The Cybermen, they got out."
“They’re in the Hub.” Owen sounded panicked. “We’re holding them back for now, but….fucking hell, how many of them are there?” There was the sound of gunshots, cursing, and energy blasts as Owen turned to his slightly more high tech weapon.
“Gwen, get the hell out of there!”
“I can’t! There’s too many of them!”
“Gwen Cooper, get your fat arse out of that water!” Owen sounded more terrified than pissed off, rightly so as one of the Cybermen stooped, touched the surface of the water, sending electricity arcing through the water. Luckily, Gwen had spotted a gap, managing to clamber out of the pool and up on to one of the platforms.
Jack turned down one last hallway and saw a crumpled body on the floor. "No, no, no oh God no..." He mumbled to himself running over and falling to his knees, and turning Ianto onto his back.
"God damnit Ianto..." Jack choked back, pulling off his comm signal for the moment. Not really wanting them all to be witness to his breakdown here in the middle of a dead end tunnel deep inside Torchwood.
Jack stroked softly down Ianto's cheek and leaned over, kissing him and hoping that enough life was left in the body that he could help it along.
Light and pain and heat and oh God he hurt all over. Gasping, the first thing Ianto was really aware of was lips against his, Jack’s arms around him. He couldn’t open his eyes, couldn’t even move. He moaned softly as Jack lifted him up a little, the movement making his muscles scream, shaking as phantom jolts of electricity seemed to move through him.
“J’ck.” He breathed, voice slurred.
Slowly he could feel a response and Jack almost let go out of surprise. Instead, he brushed his hand slowly down Ianto's arm to grasp his hand and tangle his fingers with Ianto's. Ever so slowly, Jack could feel the life force returning to Ianto.
Finally Jack let go of Ianto long enough to breathe, Ianto was in his arms, eyes open and breathing and oh God it felt good. "What was that you said about not doing dumb heroics?"
“Wasn’t dumb.” Ianto pointed out, wincing, still not quite able to focus on Jack. “S’ved you.” He smiled a little, trying to sit up and quickly realising that was a bad bad idea.
“D’lta wave?” He asked, hoping Jack got his meaning. He couldn’t really manage long sentences right now. Electrocution did that to a bloke. He couldn’t help but enjoy Jack’s arms around him, though. Gradually, feeling was starting to return, pins and needles in the wake of numbness. He preferred the numbness.
"It should be done by now..." Jack looked at Ianto, there was no way he was leaving him here. "This is going to be undignified, a bit painful and probably very hilarious later." Jack warned him before picking Ianto up and heaving him over a shoulder.
"But I have to work a gun, cybermen are still after me." And if he listened closely he could hear the dull clanking of their boots. "Fuck, we gotta move."
Grabbing his gun, Jack hurried off for the nearest entrance to his secret tunnels.
Ianto managed to hold in a yelp of pain, unable to even help hold himself up. Mind you, he did have a rather nice view from this angle.
“R’mind me of this view wh’n I can do somethin’ about it.” He mumbled to Jack, wincing as Jack began to jog slowly, unable to do anything but be a dead weight. He looked up, shiver running through him as he spotted Cybermen down the corridor.
“Jack, move!” He hissed, watching as one of the Cybermen turned, spotting them. “Behind you!”
"Fucking hell." Jack groaned and began running down the hall, trying not to jar Ianto too much as he finally saw the door and punched in a keycode. The door swung open and then shut again behind him as he relaxed against the wall, letting Ianto slide from his grasp.
Grabbing Ianto's face, he pulled him in for a kiss, his fingers curling around Ianto's ears as he kissed the man desperately. "Never do that again." Jack growled, moving to kiss him once more. "Stupid fucking..." And once more. "God.."
Ianto gasped into the kiss, wishing he could hold Jack just as tight, reassure the other man that he was here, that he was ok. All he could do was clutch weakly at his shirt, rely on Jack to hold him up.
“It worked.” He pointed out between kisses, hungry and desperate, and it might have been a little weird that Jack’s passionate growl made him shiver. It was almost worth dying, just to put that note in Jack’s voice.
"Not the point." Jack growled back, one arm sliding down to wrap securely around Ianto's waist and hold him close. When Jack pulled back he began to pant softly, his forehead resting against Ianto's own. "Don't want to lose you okay?" Jack said, just a note of terror still quivering in his voice as he finally pulled away.
"Now come on, the delta wave should be powered up by now."
“You won’t.” Ianto whispered, smiling softly. Managing to stand on his own, just for a moment, he slid his arm around Jack’s shoulder.
“Your gun broke.” He murmured. “I threw the bloody thing at its head.” He tried not to lean too heavily on Jack, ignoring his screaming muscles for now, knowing that getting to the room, powering up the delta wave was much more important than his own discomfort.
Jack nodded at at Ianto's story. "Sonic blaster. It's the special features, it really drains the batteries." He would know, having been on the end of a dead sonic blaster many times in his long life.
"Doctor, how is that time rift going?" Jack asked, after he fished and found his communicator.
"I need a few more minutes, why?" The Doctor seemed to be growling back at him.
"The delta wave is operational--"
"You have a delta wave?!"
"Well, really more of a beta wave..."
"Oh. Well then, yeah just a few more moments..."
Shuffling along on feet that were rapidly becoming more painful than numb, Ianto made slow progress, with Jack’s help. He leant against the wall just inside the room they had left, sliding slowly down to sit on the floor as Jack shut and locked the door, jogging over to the control panel, checking the wave.
“Will it hurt us?” He looked up at Jack. “The wave?”
"It shouldn't, lets say that." Jack answered, moving Ianto to sit down and joining him for the moment, his hand running through Ianto's hair and down his neck to his chest where his heart beat reassuringly.
Jack just sat there, not saying anything but feeling Ianto's heartbeat until the Doctor came back over the comm's. "The rift has been tapped on to and shut down!" The Doctor's maniacal giggle could be heard over the comm's as well as Tosh's own quiet laughter.
Grinning, Jack helped Ianto up and over to the lever, "Do the honours?"
Ianto couldn’t help but smile a little at Jack’s soft caress, shifting closer, tilting his head towards the other man. He groaned as Jack helped him to his feet, wondering why he had to move. His breath caught as Jack showed him the lever, letting him do it. He understood why; didn’t think he could thank Jack, explain in words what this meant.
He wrapped his hands around the lever, closing his eyes for a moment.
“For Lisa.” He murmured, mouth set in a thin line, as he pulled the lever down sharply.
Jack smiled as he watched the look on Ianto's face go from terror, to determination to a sort of almost tranquil calm. Smiling, Jack enfolded the man in his arms and kissed him softly before helping him out of the secret tunnels.
"I want you to stay here, you’re going to be pretty weak for a long while yet." Jack helped Ianto into his bed, pulling a blanket around his shoulders and handing him a gun... just in case. "I'll be right back..." Jack murmured, heading back out into the hub to see strewn metallic Cybermen pieces laying everywhere.
Ianto opened his mouth to argue, but he knew just as well as Jack that he would be utterly useless out there. He managed to toe off his shoes; shirt, tie, and trousers slowly struggled out of, abandoned on the floor next to Jack’s bed. He huddled down under the blanket, gun loosely clasped in one hand as he rolled onto his side.
He’d close his eyes, just for a second. Just until Jack came back.
Jack watched as Tosh came out of the Tardis, the Doctor bubbling over her and as Gwen and Owen crawled out of their own hiding places, shaking and holding onto each other in a way that only near death can bring out.
"Are they dead?" Tosh asked softly, picking up a head from one of the scraps on the floor.
"They're dead." The Doctor assured, walking over to Jack and hugging him, clapping him on the back. "Beta wave?" He said, looking at him suspiciously.
"Just a little something I've been working on." Jack answered sheepishly, following the Doctor up into his office as the others began picking up stray pieces.
Ianto blinked, realising he’d fallen a little more deeply asleep than he’d thought. And his muscles really didn’t like him for it. Hissing, he rolled onto his back, aching from head to toe as he tried to move.
Well, he could at least get himself across the room. Jack had painkillers in his desk, he knew that. Ianto blushed as he tried to walk, realising that crawling was basically his only option. Wonderful. He made his way to the foot of the ladder that led up into Jack’s office, pausing for breath at the bottom.
That pause meant he could overhear what was going on above.
“It’s brilliant, I can’t believe we never found one to watch before…completely amazing, I swear. Watching a star just..explode, into nothingness. And the noise…all that stuff about in space no one can hear you scream? Rubbish. The sound a supernova makes…fantastic. Trust me, you’ll agree with me when you see it.”
Ianto clapped his hand over his mouth to hold in a gasp. No. No, Jack couldn’t leave. Not now. Please.
But then, hadn’t they had a conversation about this? About how utterly dizzying being around the Doctor was? Jack had probably forgotten all about him. His eyes closed tight for a moment, willing the burn away from his eyes, that telltale prickling. He wouldn’t. Not over this.
Slowly, he turned, starting the (seemingly endless) crawl back to Jack’s bed.
"I can't." Jack replied softly, taking the pictures from the Doctors hands and setting them back where they were.
"You want to try life on the slow path?" He sounded a bit incredulous at that.
"I've been on the slow path for a long time, hate it." Jack answered with a soft laugh, his eyes automatically going to the manhole and what was down there.
"Then why--"
"Let's say I've found more than a good enough reason to anyways." Jack said softly, leaning forward and kissing the Doctor. "Good bye old friend." He said smiling and stepping back.
"Good bye indeed Captain Harkness." The Doctor smiled and saluted him before leaving his office.
With a soft sigh, Jack climbed down the ladder, confused when he found Ianto curled up in the middle of his floor. "I thought I said to stay in bed..." Jack murmured, picking him up and sitting him back on the bed.
“I was trying to find painkillers.” Ianto murmured, not looking at Jack. He crawled under the covers, slowly, turning away from Jack, curling up gingerly, ignoring the protests of his body. He was shaking, sore and upset and a little in shock. It wasn’t every day you wiped out a large group of the things that had killed your girlfriend, after all.
"I'll go grab you some." Jack answered, putting Ianto down on the bed gently before climbing the ladder and getting the painkillers and a glass of water. "Here, you'll feel better." Jack grinned and handed them over, climbing over Ianto and into bed.
Ianto swallowed the pills gratefully, downing the glass of water and setting the empty glass on the nightstand. He stiffened as Jack pulled him into his arms, partly from pain, partly because he wasn’t sure he wanted to be anywhere near Jack right now.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting into bed, is that a problem?" Jack asked, shucking his shirt and pulling Ianto back against him.
It was if Jack was going to leave him, after all of this. After all he’d said. He didn’t even know if Jack had heard him - the Cyberman’s electrocution had come too quickly, obliterating all thought, the memory of those last few seconds.
"Ianto, you need to relax..." Jack said softly, his hands rubbing soothingly at the other man's back, pulling him close and burying his nose in Ianto's neck and just breathing him in. It was times like this that made him feel that the slow path was entirely worth it.
Jack laid with Ianto until he was sure the pills had taken affect and then slipped away and back out into the hub. There were still bits of debris and cyber unit everywhere despite the others attempts at cleaning up. Jack smiled and sent them all home and rolled up his sleeves to deal with the mess himself.
Ianto couldn’t help but do as Jack said - the slow stroke of hands, knowing Jack was there combined with the pills, quickly pulled him under. His face slowly relaxed, lines of pain smoothing out as his sleep deepened. He didn’t even feel Jack leave, slowly spreading out across the bed, taking up as much room as he could as he slept soundly.
Eventually, he awoke. Alone. The rest of the bed was cold, no sign that Jack had even been there. Jack’s clothes were gone, his coat…
He didn’t even stay to say goodbye. Again. Ianto fought the urge to just crumble, feeling as though his skin had been torn away, raw and open and aching, nothing to protect himself. It hurt too much. Everything was too much. He couldn’t stay here. Not with so many memories around him. Not when the bed still smelt of Jack.
Slowly, stiffly, he levered himself to his feet, pulling on trousers and shirt and shoes, pausing to catch his breath at the bottom of the ladder, before slowly climbing up into Jack’s office. He didn’t even notice that there were tears running down his face. Didn’t care, now.
Jack slowly carried bits of broken up Cyberman and part of the conversion unit into the incinerator, burning them until there was nothing left but a bit of ash and smoke. A small army of Cybermen and they had sustained only small emotional scarring that would probably last a lifetime.
It was incredible.
Parts of the hub were destroyed. Ianto would be furious when he realised the state the archives were in, but then Jack didn't plan on telling him for awhile.
He slowly made his way back out to the hub, picking up broken pieces as he went, pausing when he saw Ianto awake and in his office. "Ianto?"
Ianto was trying to find the spare keys to the SUV, not having the strength to go searching for his suit jacket right now. His head snapped up as someone called his name, mouth falling open as he spotted Jack. Jack, who was filthy and dishevelled and looked exhausted. Jack, who had clearly been busy tidying while he slept.
Swaying, he tried to run to him, nearly falling twice before slowing his steps, hobbling over to him. He hugged Jack tightly, clutching at him, burying his face against Jack’s neck.
“I thought you left again.” He choked out, shaking.
Jack was taken a back at the strength to which Ianto clung to him, his face burying itself in his shoulder. "Oh Ianto...." Jack shook his head and kissed his cheek, his arms going around the younger man's body to hold him close.
"I'm not planning on leaving you again, not after--" Jack couldn't say it and couldn't quite bring himself to admit to everything that had transpired between them in such a short time. "Not after everything."
“I…I heard the Doctor…” Ianto admitted, wobbling slightly even as his arms tightened around Jack. “I thought…it sounded like you were leaving.” He leant more firmly against Jack, wanting nothing more than to sleep for the next twenty years. Maybe with waking up for food in between.
“Is he still here?” He asked, looking around warily. He couldn’t trust the Doctor. Not with Jack.
"No, the Doctor left. Not without trying to convince me to go wit him to see a supernova explode... and then try and convince Tosh to come along and help him out." Jack laughed softly, his arms cradling Ianto to him. "I think it was much harder for Tosh to turn him down, I'm surprised she did actually."
"You feeling hungry at all? Anything you want?"
Ianto shook his head, sighing at the strong arms wrapped around him.
“You.” He murmured, simply. “I just…just want to lie down for a bit. With you.” He flushed, feeling a little embarrassed about asking, nervous that Jack was going to turn him down. He didn’t necessarily want sex (tempting, but ow), he just wanted Jack to hold him, wanted the reassurance. To know that they were both ok.
Jack smiled and took Ianto's hand and began to slowly lead him back upstairs to his bed. Jack began slowly undressing Ianto, pulling his jacket off and then undoing each button of his shirt slowly and pushing it off. "Shh, it's okay." He whispered, leaning over and kissing him softly before working against his trousers.
Quickly shedding his own clothes, Jack led Ianto back to the bed and pulled him close to him, his arms wrapping around his waist as he pressed his chest to Ianto's back, his hands slowly petting at Ianto's chest.
Ianto was nearly dead on his feet, unresisting as Jack stripped him, sliding gladly into bed with him. He held Jack close, his fingers lacing with Jack’s, holding one hand close against his chest, fingers tucked under his chin.
“I love you.” He whispered, daringly, dipping his head to kiss Jack’s palm, fingers carefully wiping away a smudge of dirt, the smears of dried blood from where Jack had dismantled the conversion unit.
Jack rolled Ianto over gently, pressing his lips to Ianto and kissing him gently and then more insistently. "I know Ianto." He murmured, watching as the other man slowly slipped into sleep.
"I love you too." He murmured, almost audible.
THE END.