All Eternity
By Bluestar1, aka Crystalshard
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, it belongs to the BBC.
When you have all eternity, it's unusual to be surprised.
He'd been blindsided. Con-man extraordinaire Jack Harkness, once a trained Time Agent and used to people being the same everywhen, had been completely and utterly blindsided.
How Ianto had sneaked a Cyberwoman onto the base – and kept her hidden! – made Jack alternately amazed and furious. Then, when the fury died down, he decided that the man who could con Jack Harkness was far too dangerous to be let loose.
Even later, he decided that Ianto was also far too attractive to let go.
When you have all eternity, it doesn't matter if you die sometimes.
Jack choked on his own blood, wide-eyed, collapsing to the ground. He'd never have thought that a creature made from smoke could solidify into a blade so diamond-edged as this one had. A blade that had plunged into his chest and dissolved after puncturing his lung, letting blood pour into a space not designed to hold it. He was drowning, drowning in his own fluids, but that was okay because he'd be back soon and his team could catch the smoke-creature . . .
He heard, as if at a distance, a male Welsh voice call, "Now!"
There was a pause, then a loud splash and a faint scream, as if an animal was dying in rage.
Footsteps came near his head, then stopped. Jack turned his head slightly to see Ianto crouch down beside him, gripping his hand. "We got it, Jack. The enzymes in the soapy water pulled it apart."
"Don't . . . go," Jack tried to say, but the blood bubbled up in his throat and it came out as a gurgle.
Ianto must have understood, however. "I'm here, Jack. I'll be right here when you wake up."
Jack relaxed, shutting his eyes and permitting the blackness to steal him away again. It didn't matter. The blackness always gave him back.
When you have all eternity, you tend to cling to the moment.
The stopwatch ticked on, forgotten, as Jack pulled back from Ianto for just a moment. "You are so damn gorgeous," Jack whispered, not caring if Ianto heard him or not. Ianto was warm beneath him, his skin flushed and sweat-slicked, his lips reddened and swollen from kissing, mouth open as he panted for breath.
"So are you," Ianto murmured back, his eyes open and locking onto Jack's. Something resonated between them in that moment, more than sex, more than passion, more than just need. Something that Jack filed away in his memory, so that he could pull it out on the dark days when he needed something to counter the pain and despair with.
When you have all eternity, you need someone to share it with.
"Jack, I'm so sorry," the Doctor said, touching his shoulder as Jack knelt next to the body of Ianto Jones. "If I'd known the Leviathan would follow me here, I'd never have come back to Cardiff. There's more than one rift where I could have recharged the TARDIS."
The ten-foot body of the Leviathan lay crumpled in Roald Dahl Plass, but Jack was ignoring the commotion as Gwen, Tosh and Owen tried to control the situation. His only awareness was of Ianto, looking almost asleep as he slumped against the side of the TARDIS. Asleep, but for the unnatural angle of his neck and head that destroyed the illusion every time Jack looked at him. "Plenty of rifts. Only one Ianto," Jack said softly, gathering the other man's body into his arms.
Ianto had been thrown at the TARDIS by the Leviathan when he'd tried to shoot it down. As had the rest of Torchwood Three, really, but Ianto had been the one the monster had taken his anger out on. And Ianto was the one who'd paid for the Doctor's actions.
Jack looked up at the Doctor. He still wasn't used to this new Doctor, with more hair and less ears and a cheeky smile instead of that old familiar grin. "You owe him, Doctor. He died because of you. You owe me for what you did to me."
"What I did?" the Doctor replied, nonplussed.
"You left me behind. You let Rose resurrect me, or at least you think it was her, and then you abandoned me on a space station. You owe me." Old anger warred with new pain, and the pain won out. Old anger could be dealt with later.
"I can't give life, Jack. Even Rose had to look into the time stream for the power to do what she did. No-one's meant to do that. No-one can control that energy and live." The Doctor's face was intent on Jack's, as if he was willing him to believe his words.
Jack grinned mirthlessly, even as fresh hope sparked in his heart. "You forget, Doctor. I can't die. Now let me in." He stood up, lifting Ianto's body as if it weighed nothing, and waited for the Doctor to open the doors to the TARDIS.
"You can't do this partway, Jack. You can't just bring him back. If you do, he'll be just like you. Immortal. Do you really want to do that to him?"
Jack looked the Doctor steadily in the eyes and repeated, "Let me in."
It was the first time Jack had been in the TARDIS since his resurrection on the Game Station, and he was almost surprised to find it hadn't changed. At least, the physical aspect hadn't. But in the back of his mind, there was the shock of recognition as the TARDIS recognised an old companion . . . and something more.
"Please," Jack said aloud, not sure who he was talking to. "Please. I need your help."
It seemed the TARDIS, translator of all languages, understood him better than perhaps he could have hoped. A hatch down by the main control console of the heart-room opened, spilling a soft golden light across the deck. Without a single pause for thought, Jack stepped up to the edge and looked down.
He understood, now, what the Doctor had said about the TARDIS. She was alive, she was beautiful, she was terrible, and she nearly swept him away. But he held on to one thought.
Ianto.
Ianto, don't die. I need you to live. Don't die. Don't ever die. I need you.
Ianto's body lay still in his arms, and Jack felt tears running down his face from the pain and frustration he felt. Why wasn't this working?
Ianto, don't die.
"Ianto, don't die. I . . ." Jack whispered, unable to finish the sentence. He could feel his body dying and renewing, the first gift of the TARDIS still working, recharging from exposure to the source.
This is what I need to give him. This renewal.
I know how.
Arms screaming from the strain, Jack lifted Ianto's shoulders higher. Ianto's head lolled forward, and Jack touched his lips to Ianto's cold ones. But as he did, Jack felt the TARDIS slip away, somehow knowing that the ship had decided she'd given enough. He would have howled if he'd had the energy, but as Ianto's lips fell away, he felt drained. He could still feel the TARDIS fizzing in the back of his mind, assuring him that his own immortality was uncompromised. What did that matter, though? It hadn't helped Ianto.
There was a sickening crack, and the body in his arms moved.
Tears still drying on his cheeks, Jack looked down in astonishment. Ianto, eyes open and shocked, was drawing ragged breaths. His neck was straight, unbroken, and he was warm in Jack's arms. Ianto needed somewhere to lie down, and Jack knew just the place. He was fairly sure the Doctor wouldn't have moved anything in his old room onboard.
Jack was proved right as the TARDIS rearranged itself so that his bedroom was closer to the control room than it had ever been before. Making sure that Ianto didn't hit the door frame, Jack carried the Welshman inside and placed him gently on the bed.
"Jack?" Ianto's face was still scared, uncertain.
"It's me, Ianto. You're safe. You're alive." Jack brushed the side of Ianto's face with his fingertips, wanting to brush away the vulnerability in Ianto's eyes.
"I thought . . . I died." Ianto's hand went to his neck, and Jack grabbed it quickly. Ianto's return pressure on his hand was almost painful, but Jack welcomed the proof that his Ianto was back with him.
"You did. It's alright now. Coming back the first time was a shock for me, too."
Unable to bear the fear in Ianto's expression any longer, Jack bent his head down and kissed it away. When he lifted his head, Ianto was smiling. "Is this a stopwatch moment, sir?" Ianto joked.
"What do you need a stopwatch for when you have all eternity?" Jack asked, grinning.