Happy ending
Disclaimer: You think Ianto would have died if I owned this?
Warnings: Slash, not a surprise there. Spoilers for the episode 'Day 4'
A/N: Writing therapy because I cried so much during 'Day 4'. This was written the day after that. My dad tried to convince me that it was just a show but it felt so real. And then he said; "The show isn't real. You should write a new ending, one in which he lives. It won't bring him back in the series. But for you it can be just as real if you write it."
Bit of angst in the beginning but I promise it ends well
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Jack woke up, gasping for air, and for a moment he was blissfully oblivious to what had happened. It didn't take him long to remember though and when he looked at the body next to him, covered by a red cloth, the tears started spilling down his cheeks again.
Ianto, his Ianto, dying in Thames House, in his arms. The last words they'd spoken to each other still echoed in his mind. His strong, handsome, sad, brave Ianto would never look at him again. Those beautiful Welsh vowels would never roll from his tongue again. Never.
'I love you' he had said. The words he had desperately wanted to hear, although he already knew how Ianto felt about him, were the only thing left.
'Don't' he had replied. Not because he didn't love him back. But because with those words Ianto had given up. He had only said them because he was dying and Jack just wasn't prepared to accept that. Even then he had tried to keep his Ianto alive. His friend, his lover… his partner.

A gasp from the body beside them made Jack and Gwen startle and back away. But then the cloth was pulled away and Ianto was sitting upright, looking paler as ever but very much alive. In the blink of an eye Jack was beside him, not knowing, or caring, how it was that the young man wasn't dead. He pulled him in his arms and rocked him back and forth, comforting himself.
"Jack – how…?" Ianto stroked his hand over the Captain's face.
"I don't know. You're alive. You're here. You're here." He didn't even fully believe it himself. Trying to find reassurance he kissed his lover, who eagerly responded, not caring if Gwen saw.
Jack buried his face in Ianto's neck and carded his hands trough the other man's hair. "I love you too. So much." He hadn't even realised that until Ianto woke up. The emptiness inside him was filled at that moment and he knew that, whatever they had, had developed from a part-time shag to something much bigger.

Jack's soft breathing filled Ianto with an indescribable peace. His scent, his voice, his hands, all of it added to the feeling of belonging. Belonging right there and then, in Jack's arms. And he wasn't dead, he hadn't been poisoned by the air. Or he had and somehow he'd returned to earth. He could vaguely remember the darkness which had enveloped him after death. There had been voices. Toshiko, Owen, Suzie, Liza. All urging him to go back, whispering how they would help him.
They'd done something, they must have, for the next thing he knew he was feeling again. It hurt, coming back from the dead. Like being hauled over broken glass. But here, in Jack's arms, it was all worth it. Every last bit of pain, every bit of grief. And he wasn't going to let go again, Jack needed him, and he needed Jack. That was how it had always been, how it would always be.

He looked forward to the calm of Cardiff, the nights spend in bed. But for now that was out of reach. They had to save the world. Save the children and fight of the aliens. First things first. There would be enough time for snuggling when they got back to Wales.
Ianto kissed Jack one last time before getting up. "So? What's the plan of action?"