Title: Watching Him Remember
Author: caz251
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: Pg-13
Character/Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood.
Summary: Jack's POV of the events of Sniffing Out The Memory
AN: Written for schmoop_bingo Prompt: memories
Jack couldn't believe it, he had lost his memory. He stared at the man in the hospital bed, just as he had done every night since he had brought him in. He had been coming to the hospital using the perception filter that he still had from his time with the Doctor. Jack wished that he could blame someone for this, for Ianto's lack of memory, but if anyone had to take the blame it was him. If he hadn't been so distracted by Ianto and trying to get him to relieve some tension once they had bagged and tagged the weevil he wouldn't be here. They would have seen the other weevil as it appeared and it certainly wouldn't have been able to get to Ianto or smash his head against a wall. No, this was his fault and there was nothing that he could do to make the other man remember.
He spent each day working with Gwen to keep Torchwood running, and spent every night with Ianto, just like he had before the accident, but just in a different way. This time he kept hidden and silent, not wanting to scare the other man who had no memory of him. He would then return to the flat they shared for a quick shower and a change of clothes before going to work.
When Ianto was released from the hospital he suspected that he had gone to Rhiannon's but he didn't want to call her, he knew that Ianto had never told him about them, and that she had no knowledge of him. He also didn't want to cause Ianto any stress by appearing to him when it was obvious that the man didn't remember him. He spent that first night that Ianto was out of hospital chasing weevils around. At one point he thought he saw Ianto, but it had to have been his imagination.
The next day Gwen had sent him home, seeing that he was clearly exhausted and the fact that he was getting under her feet may have had something to do with it. For some reason he hadn't even thought about Ianto being at the flat, but seeing him in their flat was a shock and somewhat bittersweet. The man couldn't remember him, but he could remember his smell. It had to mean something, maybe Ianto could remember. Hearing the other man speak in tandem with him about his pheromones was like music to his ears, Ianto would remember he was sure of it. He pulled the other man to him, he needed to feel him in his arms once more.
He felt Ianto pull back for a moment then a few moments later the other man's lips were on his. He tried to pull back, knowing that it was just his pheromones affecting the other man, but when he tried Ianto held on tighter to him. "No, Jack cariad." Jack knew in that moment that he had been right, Ianto could do it. He had done it, after all his pheromones could incite lust, but not love and that was Ianto's pet name for him. He'd remembered, he had to have remembered. He looked into Ianto's eyes and in that moment he knew that it was true.