Author's Note: Spoilers ahead for Season 3 Episode 4 with an alternate ending. Please don't continue if you haven't seen it, I'd hate to be responsible for ruining anything. Gift fic for EilonwyCousland QueenofTragedy; thank you for taking this obsessive journey of Torchwood with me, and uber thanks to Erana for the beta.
"You wanted a demonstration of war," the alien known as the 456 responded to Jack's threat. Alarms sounded in the distance. "A virus has been released. It will kill everyone in the building."
Ianto raised his gun toward the structure that held the creature. "If there's a virus, there must be an anti-virus. Release it now, or I'll blow a hole in that tank and we'll all die together."
Jack pointed his gun as well. "You made your point, now stop this and we can talk!"
"You are dying, even now," the alien responded, unphased by their threats. The two men opened fire, but the glass containing the creature was bulletproof. The 456 laughed.
Jack turned to Ianto. "We've got to get you out of here," he said in a panic. "I can survive anything, but you can't!"
"It's too late," Ianto said, already realizing the reality of the situation. "I breathed the air."
"There's got to be something," Jack insisted. "There has to be an antidote!" Frantic with his thoughts of losing Ianto, Jack turned toward the 456. "I take it all back, no war, fine. But not him! Not him…" he whispered, as Ianto collapsed in his arms.
.~*~.
"Tell me it doesn't end like this," Ianto begged as he struggled to breath. The poisonous gas released by the 456 had already filled his lungs, and he knew there wasn't much time left to say goodbye. "Tell me Jack, and I'll believe you."
Captain Jack Harkness stared down at his lover as his head rested in his lap. All this time, all their plans, and it had come down to this final moment. Time wasted, slipping away, a future of happiness within reach yet slowly disappearing into nothing as Ianto Jones stared up at him with questioning eyes. Immortality, alien technology and technology from the future, he had it all at his fingertips, and yet Jack couldn't save the one person that made him feel truly alive.
A tear escaped Ianto's eyes and Jack brushed it softly aside with his thumb. "It can't," Jack whispered, fighting back his own tears. "It won't," he said defiantly, though the crack in his voice gave away the doubt he felt within. He'd faced death countless times, with countless lovers, friends, and family; it should be easy by now. He should be used to it. But this hurt; a vice squeezing his heart and claws tearing at his chest. They would die together, but Jack knew his death would be temporary, and Ianto would be gone forever.
"No," Jack said, as if his words were power enough to stop the inevitable. "No," he repeated again, the dam behind his eyes broken and tears flowing freely. "NO!" he screamed, staring up at the ceiling as if it held the answers to stopping his pain. His eyes darted around the room frantically, looking for a way out, a chance to escape and save his lover.
"Jack," Ianto whispered.
"Shhh," Jack gently moved his thumb across Ianto's lips. "Save your strength, because we will not end like this. Not after everything…"
Ianto was slipping away in his arms, Jack knew this, their time was running out. If only he had more time… if only…
Hope spawned laughter within Jack as he began pushing several buttons on his vortex manipulator. He'd never attempted what he was about to try, but if anything was going to work, this had to be it. "Come on Tosh," he prayed to his former tech expert. "Tell me you did it, tell me this will work." Frantically he searched through the options on the device on his wrist until he found the last project Toshiko Sato had worked on before she died. "Hold on Ianto," Jack demanded as he entered the final command. "Don't you dare slip away from me now."
Gently Jack moved Ianto from his lap and lay him on the floor. Focusing the energy of the manipulator, Ianto was suddenly surrounded by a soft pink light. Jack watched closely as the rise and fall of Ianto's chest stopped, eyes locked with a look of confusion. Jack extended a shaky hand toward Ianto, and the familiar ripple effect went through the barrier created around him. The time lock program was a success; Ianto was now sealed within a bubble of time, frozen just seconds before his death.
.~*~.
Gwen watched as Jack paced the floor, waiting on the group of scientists that were creating an antidote for the alien poison. She had witnessed Jack's strength through many difficult situations, Owen and Tosh's deaths included, but this time he was different. He was lost, afraid, anxious, and if Gwen was being honest with herself, she was too. Not for Ianto's survival, she knew the scientists had all they needed with the other victims of the poison, but for Jack.
"I worry Jack," Gwen admitted to him. "After what happened with Owen…"
He stopped pacing and stared at her. "What happened with Owen was different," Jack replied. "This was my fault. Ianto… my fault. I did this to him. I provoked the 456 and killed all of those people. I've been responsible for death before, but Gwen, it's Ianto….I just can't let him go, and I need your support in this."
"You have it," Gwen told him. "My support isn't the issue here. I just don't want to see this happen again and again. Ianto will die. Maybe not today, or next week, but eventually he will die and you will not. You need to remember that you can't keep saving him."
Jack nodded. "I know," he said as he continued pacing. "But today I can, and that's enough for me."
.~*~.
He ran down the hall of the makeshift hospital, dodging military and medical personnel, his long coat flowing behind him. He ignored the mutters of annoyance as he not-so-gently pushed people out of his way to reach the cordoned off wing set aside for the scientists. His lungs hurt from the exertion, his heart caught in his throat, and the tears stung his eyes. "You might want to get over here," the man had said on the phone, and Jack had dropped everything to do so. He briefly wondered if someone was currently stealing the vehicle he had stolen only a day ago - he'd left it in front of the building, engine idling and driver door wide open. The seconds it would've taken to park the thing weren't ones he were willing to waste, not when something so precious was just beyond the doors in front of him.
Pushing them open without a care of who might have been in his way, Jack continued down another set of hallways, then lept down two sets of stairs to the medical labs. He slowed long enough to accept a salute from one of the guards in front of the door at the end of the hall. "Captain Jack Harkness?" the man asked.
Jack nodded, returning the salute as he waited impatiently for the soldier to slide his passcard into the security scanner. His heart clenched as he saw Ianto in the middle of the room, laying on a table, that look of horror and sadness still frozen in his eyes. "Do you have it?" Jack asked no one in particular, still looking at Ianto.
"It's done," one of the scientists, Doctor Varnesh, replied. "Release the barrier and we'll inject him with the antidote."
"You're positive it will work?" Jack asked. "We only get one try at this."
"Sadly, we had plenty of bodies to extract enough of the poison to create a proper antidote," Doctor Varnesh told him. "I assure you, Captain Harkness, this will work."
"Then get ready," Jack told him. "Once I drop the barrier, you have seconds before he dies."
"Understood Sir," Doctor Varnesh said, joining Jack at the table. He placed the tip of a needle within a vial containing a green liquid, and extracted the amount necessary. "Alright then," the doctor nodded toward Jack. "Whenever you're ready."
Jack took a deep breath before entering a series of codes on his vortex manipulator. The barrier fell, and Ianto blinked his eyes which darted around the room, confused at his new surroundings. Doctor Varnesh wasted no time, jabbing the needle into Ianto's leg, releasing the antidote into his system.
Ianto screamed at the sudden puncture of his skin, sweat instantly forming on his brow. Both the doctor and Jack continued to watch as Ianto struggled through pain and confusion. After a few intense moments of an unknown future, his breathing returned to normal, and he turned his head toward Jack.
"Jack?" Ianto said his name with a questioning tone, and it was music to Jack's ears.
"Welcome back," Jack said, cradling his face in his hands. Without regard for their audience of scientists and soldiers, Jack bent down and pressed his lips on Ianto's, needing the familiar taste of his lovers tongue. Ianto felt that need, grabbing the back of Jack's neck to bring him closer. For several minutes, the world faded away around them, both lost in the reunion that shouldn't be.
"Dare I ask how you managed this one?" Ianto asked after breaking away from the kiss.
"Tosh's time lock program," Jack said. "I wasn't sure it would work but I had to try."
Ianto tried to hold back his grin. "I knew it worked all along," he whispered. "Gwen and I used it against the Dalek when they invaded the Hub. I guess I should've told you?"
Jack shook his head. "You think?" But he couldn't be mad. Ianto was alive, back in his arms, and regardless of the pressing issues with the children and the 456, Jack couldn't have been happier.