~ Because damn it I'm still not over the death of Ianto Jones! I want him back! ~

Jack was mortal now. Things were different. He could go into a bar and actually get drunk. He could take sleeping pills and actually stay asleep. One night he decided to do just that. He was so empty, even now, without Ianto. The closest he ever got to him was in his dreams, so he figured why not sleep for a really long time and hope and pray for a dream about Ianto. He took only two pills. He didn't want to die. He just wanted to see Ianto. He settled down on the bed, pulling the covers up to his shoulder and envisioned Ianto. His beautiful greenish blue eyes, his smile and the way it seemed to light up Jack's entire world. He drifted off into a heavy sleep.

"Jack?"

"Ianto!" Jack rushed into Ianto and instantly fused their bodies together, grabbing hold of his face and kissing him as hard as he possibly could. Ianto took a moment to respond, he must be in shock, but finally he wrapped his arms around Jack and kissed him back just as rigorously as Jack kissed him. Jack finally pulled away and leaned his forehead up against Ianto's.

"What are you doing here?" Jack looked around. It was just darkness. Just like Owen and Suzie had said. Darkness.

"What is this place?" Ianto shrugged, Jack stepped back and took him in. he was paler than normal, and still dressed in a suit. Good ol' Ianto. Dressed to the nines even in death.

"I think this is the afterlife." Jack, still not releasing his hold on Ianto, whistled.

"Looks kind of dreary."

"It was just me . . . alone. Until you came along. You're not dead are you?" Ianto sounded both worried and excited. What a twisted emotion to have. "Please tell me you're not . . . how could you be? You'd never be here."

"No. No I'm not dead. I am mortal though. I took some sleeping pills so I could see you again."

"You didn't . . .?"

"Overdose? No." Ianto released a deep breath.

"Good. The world needs you. More than I do." Jack kissed Ianto again.

"I already gave you up to save the world once." Ianto smiled and kissed him back and then put a hand to Jack's cheek.

"I love you Jack Harkness. And I really love that coat." Jack chuckled as Ianto pulled on Jack's coat collar. Jack got sad suddenly. This would all have to end. Who knew how long they had?

"I hate living without you." Ianto's smile dropped off his face.

"I hate being dead without you."

"You're all alone here? Forever?"

"It would seem sir."

"Ianto this is hardly the time for formalities." Ianto smiled a little, his forehead wrinkling in that oh-so-adorable way that made his face look like a puppy's. "I don't know how much longer we've got." Ianto held onto him and breathed in the scent of his jacket. The scent of the living. It was the smell of fresh cut grass and air, the smell of coffee (terrible coffee, because Ianto hadn't made it) and the smell of hastily eaten pizza, and underneath all of that the faint sent of cloves that Jack seemed to carry on his skin.

"I don't want you to go" he whispered. "But you have to. Death is no place for Jack Harkness."

"I don't want to leave you."

"You have to."

"No! I won't!" the captain held on to Ianto as tight as he could, sensing that he was, indeed leaving. He kissed him one last time. "Ianto . . . I . . ."

The sunlight had turned his eyelids pink. He blinked awake groggily and the sudden pang of loss hit him right in the throat, he felt like he could no longer breathe. He cried, he couldn't help it. It was too cruel to see Ianto, only to be taken away again. He looked at the bottle of sleep aids on his nightstand, and knew what it was he would do. He picked up his phone and called Gwen.

"Gwen . . . you and Rex and Esther are going to save the world."

"Jack? What do you mean?! Jack!?"

"I believe in you."

"We need you!"

"I've done my time. I'm going now. I can finally die."

"Jack no!" Gwen screamed in her welsh accent over the phone as Jack shut it. He grabbed the bottle of pills and poured a handful out into the palm of his hand.

When he was back in the darkness, he saw a form, a small ball of a form. He raced over to it. Ianto looked up at him.

"Oh sir. You didn't!" Jack knelt next to Ianto.

"I've saved the world enough times, now I need to save you Ianto Jones." Ianto looked up at him in horror.

"You mean you . . .?"

"Yep. I'm here to stay. Forever. With you."

"Forever?"

"Forever."

"That's an awfully long time to tolerate you sir." Jack knelt down on the ground next to Ianto and kissed him, gentler this time, slow. They had all of eternity together.