Title: Had We But World Enough And Time
Author: Caz251
Summary: Jack thinks on life and the universe with and without Ianto.
Characters: Jack and Ianto
Spoilers: General Spoilers nothing specific
AN: I don't own Torchwood I wish I did. The title of this also does not belong to me but rather to Andrew Marvell from his poem 'To His Coy Mistress'
Had We But World Enough And Time
Silence spread through the hub as Jack sat in silent contemplation as he watched his younger lover sleep. Ianto looked so much younger when he was asleep, his face free of any worry over the trials of the day.
Jack had always wondered what it would be like to have an eternity with Ianto, one in which they could travel the different worlds and times. He had imagined it almost as often as he wondered how he would cope when Ianto died.
Their job was dangerous and the staff of Torchwood seemed to die young as a rule. Once Ianto had inserted himself into Jack's life he knew he would take it hard when the younger man died.
From the time they had first met Jack had known that there was something about Ianto Jones, not just his knowledge of Weevils. Even as he and the rest of the team executed Ianto's cybercised girlfriend, he knew he could not lose Ianto.
Although Ianto should have been either ret-conned or killed for treason, Jack could not do it. This in itself came as a shock to Jack as he had ret-conned many people in the time that he had worked for Torchwood. He had also killed many people in his long life, both before and after the Doctor, making it even harder for him to understand.
It took Jack a while to realise why he seemed unable to harm the Welshman, and it did not really sink in until after he'd left with the Doctor. During the year that never was Jack had a lot of time to think, mainly about the Universe and his place in it, which in his mind could only be Wales at the side of Ianto Jones.
It wasn't until the Master killed Ianto that Jack realised exactly why he felt the need to protect the Welshman, all humans have a survival instinct to some extent, when Ianto had been killed he had known. He wasn't just protecting Ianto, he was protecting himself, for Ianto Jones held half his soul.
Coming out of his thoughts he turned to look at his sleeping Welshman, smiling as he curled himself around Jack's pillow in his sleep. The smile quickly faded as his thoughts encroached upon him again, while he had all the time in the world and with the help of the Doctor as many worlds as he wished to visit, Ianto didn't. Ianto's life was finite and he knew that when Ianto's end came that it would hurt like hell. As Ianto shifted again Jack tried to put all thought of the future out of his mind, instead focusing upon the present and the Welshman looking up at him with sleep-filled eyes.