A/N: So a lot of these have been done, but this is one very simple thing. Well, it's a simple action that saves Ianto's life, after all, who doesn't love a happy Janto story. :)
Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it? Surely we all know the drill by now. The characters of Torchwood do belong to me and forever will be mine until somebody else buys the deed. Phht, I wish. They ain't mine but Russel's!!!! On with the show......
Jack made his way towards the sports car and the sound of footsteps echoing around the warehouse right behind him caused him to stop and turn on the spot, "Ianto, stay here with Gwen."
"No," he answered back, he would have brushed past the older man had he not stopped him by grabbing a hold of his arm. "Jack, I'm coming with you."
He wanted his lover to be by his side, but he had no idea how powerful the 456 were. They had the power to keep children alive for forty years and still looking like the young person they were, who knew what else they could do. "Stay here Ianto, I don't know what could happen. Besides, two eyes on that screen are better than three."
Jack paused, waiting for resolution to show on the younger man's face and when it did he gave his lover a long kiss with a promise of being back before driving off towards the Thames house, leaving Gwen and Ianto the job of convincing the military, or part of it, to take their side and see what's really happening behind closed doors.
He's cold. That's all that registers when he wakes up and suddenly, as if a switch has been flicked, another set of final moments flood through his mind. Talking, making a deal, and shooting at indestructible glass and then the poison. His visions' red but he doesn't care, trying to think over a new strategy that might work.
It's in the middle of another plan that the sheet is pulled back and he's looking up into the faces of his teammates, each of their eyes reflecting the joy that he still isn't permanently dead yet.
He tells Ianto to take his niece and nephew away, run and hide until it's all over. "What about you?"
Jack swallows a forming lump and kisses Ianto for what could be his last time before telling him, "I'll be fine." Reluctantly he leaves, and Jack watches as Gwen and his lover leave in a helicopter, saving Ianto's family whilst he was handcuffed and to be taken away to be locked up in a cell for what he assumes is forever.
Everything seems gone to him. His daughter, his grandson, Torchwood.
He wants to run and escape this place of torture.
It's home, he tells himself, but he can't ever live a normal life.
Not even with Ianto.
When he feels the familiar warm and soft hands entwine in his rough and possibly cold hands he's surprised. He's killed his own grandson to save millions of children. He's told of how much of a heartless monster he was yet Ianto was still one step behind him, supporting every decision and helping him to feel better about the world.
"Fresh start sir?" He asks Jack and Jack can't help but let a tearful smile fill his face, a harsh laugh escaping his lips as he looks over the destruction of the bay. A great big black smoldering hole in the middle of the concrete. That's how he feels, a huge hole of nothing but charred remains.
Glancing down at their entwined hands Jack looks Ianto in his soft blue and grey eyes that reflected understanding and friendship for him. He sees the loyalty that the younger man has for him and knows he must keep going.
Not for him.
But for Ianto. He deserves that much at least.
A/N: Yes, I know, a few of these stories have been done. But hey, my plot bunnies decided it needed to be done.