Title: Never Alone
Author: iantojjackh
Summary: Can immortal love stand the test of time?
Spoilers: There might be a few from DW during Martha's reign as companion.
Characters: Jack and Ianto
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~850
Notes: this is an idea I've had for a while. Written for love-bingo fill: Test of Time. Unbetaed so mistakes are mine alone. I'm not sure what genre this would really fit into.
Never Alone
When two immortals exchange vows and make the promise 'till death do us part', it takes on a meaning never quite explored before. Two people bonded together until the last star burns out.
Which begs the question, how long could could two people really stay together without drifting apart? Can that promise really be kept? And just how long is 'till death do us part'.?
The answer really was till death do they part. If the love is strong enough, pure enough, it can survive anything and everything. The years were not always easy. There were dark times that were so dark that it did not seem like light would ever be seen again. Then there were the times that were so good that it was as if the dark days never existed.
A year soon became two, that quickly rolled into a decade which morphed into a century. A millennium passed in the blink of an eye.
Generation after generation of Harkness-Joneses came in and out of Jack and Ianto's lives. None of them were immortal like their father's were. They aged just like every other human. By the time they decided to stop having children, they had enough children, grandchildren and generations beyond to populate several large countries. Ianto always kept a record of the name and date of the birth and death for all their offspring. It was quite the record and a daunting task to keep up, but this was Ianto after all.
Planets and civilisations came and went. Ianto had to stop Jack from buying his own planet which he wanted to call The Sexy Welshman and then populate it with their offspring and Jack added that he wanted it be a nudist colony. The perfect paradise, as Jack saw it. It took a lot of explanation for Jack to realise why a planet of nudists all related to each other was a bad idea. It was an endearing trait, though one that sometimes drove Ianto crazy, that when Jack got excited about something that logic and reason went out the window. This was Jack after all.
Slowly the years began to catch up to them. Jack started to loose his hair around the four millionth century. Ianto was not too far behind him. Eventually their bodies began to fall apart, unable to do anything. To quote Jack: A life without sex is no life at all.
Jack became the quintessential crotchety old man, complaining about anything and everything, but still revered for the wisdom living millions of years had brought him.
"They only come for your coffee. You still got that, unlike some other things," Jack grumbled as he reached to squeeze where once pert buttocks lived, but now all there was only a flat bony wasteland of deflated cheeks.
"Stop that," Ianto rolled his eyes, which still had their youthful shine, and swatted Jack's hand away. "Last time you tried that you were bed ridden for two weeks. I'm not hiring someone to wipe your arse again," the tired man grumped and sat next to his mate for the last few million years.
"I love you," Jack brought Ianto's wrinkled hand to his lips.
"Love you more," Ianto managed a flirty smile before he leaned over to kiss Jack. The kiss did not get very far because a twinge in Ianto's back forced him to stand up.
The night ended like every other night since Jack and Ianto exchanged vows: wrapped in each other arms and listening to the other's heartbeat.
The next victim of the passage of time was the ability to speak, but that did not matter as a telepathic link had formed between the couple and there was no need to speak what was on their minds.
Eventually, the eternal couple became bedridden. Their bodies too frail to support their own weight. Every time a nurse came to take care of the men their hands were always intertwined and their eyes always locked onto each other. The great love Jack and Ianto still shared could easily be seen even with the quickest glances.
However, their minds were sharp as ever and when one day someone offered them a way to free themselves from the limitations of their physical bodies, Jack and Ianto leapt at the chance.
Then two minds became one entity that would live on and become a beloved and wise figure through the cosmos. Their advise and guidance was sought after from far and wide and they readily bestowed it to whomever asked.
They would eventually learn that immortality does not mean forever. No one person or creature had ever seen forever, but a man from the Boeshane Peninsula and a man from Wales came close. When the time came for their final moments, sped up by a heroic act to help others, they were comforted by the fact that it was in the company of old friends they had not seen in a very long time.
In their final breath, Jack and Ianto spoke the words that would ultimately lead to one of the worst years of Jack's very long life.
"You Are Not Alone."
Even after the last breath was gone, there was still just enough life left to have one last telepathic conversation.
We never were alone.
It was good, yeah?
Yeah.
I love you.
Love you more.