Ianto had, had a good life and a good innings, he was 111 years old after all. Still a whippersnapper when compared to Jack although no-one would be able to tell that by looking at them. Jack sat by his side, still as beautiful as he'd ever been, holding his hand watching his old friend slowly fade away.
They'd had a grand adventure when they'd left Earth after Gwen's death at the hands of the 456 and the destruction of the Torchwood Hub. For a decade they'd roamed the stars, hitching lifts and finding work as and where they could. One day they had been sat in a bar in the 7th Nebula talking to a pair of Jo'art sisters. The Jo'art race was vaguely humanoid, if you didn't mind green scales and no hair, but the female Jo'art grew their breasts on their backs. It was an evolutionary thing, they were a nomad race and the females tended to carry their young strapped to their backs as they moved. With their breasts on their back they had no need to stop for feeding time, clever really. Ianto loved to find out about all the alien races he met and Jack loved to… well, to flirt, which he was doing outrageously when a voice behind them suddenly asked;
"Captain Jack Harkness…do you ever stop flirting?"
Jack had jumped as though burnt and spun to look at the speaker. The man, which is what he looked to be, was tall, thin and about the same age as Ianto, wearing surprisingly old fashioned clothes including a…bowtie? Jack had looked at him closely before asking "Doctor..?" uncertainty in his voice.
"Of course…" the man had replied "You've not seen this body have you, whilst you obviously have exactly the same body, not aged at all, which of course is to be expected…so introduce me to your friends then"
Ianto had jumped up immediately and Jack had rather distractedly introduced him. "This is Ianto Jones, my partner". Although Jack had inflected the word 'Partner' with a lot of subtext, Ianto thought he'd make sure the message was understood, after all this was the Doctor, and wrapped one arm around Jack's waist before offering his hand to the Doctor. "It's fantastic to meet you at last" he said "Jack talks about you…a lot"
"Not me exactly" the man said "Oh… it looks like your other friends have gone, hope I didn't scare them away although it was probably more likely…" he fluttered his hand vaguely at the two men who were still standing with their arms wrapped around each other. "No point wasting the table…mind if I join you" he'd asked sitting down even as he said it.
They'd talked all night, the three of them and Ianto could see why Jack was fascinated by this man. Then as morning came in the Doctor had turned to them and made them an offer.
"You don't have a ship and I don't have a crew, not that I need a crew, but you know ….I've been travelling alone for a couple of years now…would be nice to have company for a bit….if you don't have any other offers that is. Love to have you both on board. What do you say?"
A bit had turned into nearly 30 years, the three of them had made a great team and Ianto had learnt so much from the Doctor. By then Ianto was on the wrong side of 65 years old and he knew he couldn't keep up with Jack much longer, and he knew that although Jack would always love him he didn't desire him as much and that was hard. So when one trip saw them land back in Cardiff in his contemporary timeline, Ianto made the decision to stay.
"Jack" he'd explained "We've had 40 wonderful years, more than many married couples get. But we are growing apart now, we can both sense it." He'd held his hand up at Jack tried to interrupt. "Yes I know you will always love me and I will always love you but it's maturing into a different sort of love now. I've learnt so much on our travels and I want to do something with that. I'm going to stay here and set-up Torchwood again, this time holding to the Doctors ideal's. We'll report to him and him alone. You will be back this way from time to time and we'll stay in touch but I can't carry on growing older and older while you become my carer rather than my lover. I don't want that for either of us"
Jack had tried to argue with him but there hadn't been a true conviction in it. So they'd parted company, although Jack did visit fairly regularly, at least every few years but eventually they'd become close friends rather than lovers.
Now here they were and Ianto's time was almost up, he'd got a longer life than average but he was not immortal…except Jack seemed to be saying he could be?
"Ianto, listen to me this is important. I did it, I found the Kilbrazth rings" The Kilbrazth rings were a myth Jack had learnt about 25 years previously and he'd been hunting them down ever since. Ianto didn't have the energy to speak so he just blinked to show he was listening.
"It's all true, the stories I told you about, it's all true. The Kilbrazth rings will unite two souls into one" Ianto blinked again. "I know, we don't how dangerous it could be but….you're about to die anyway and I can't die so what's the risk? Ianto I don't want to be alone for eternity, you are cleverer, wiser and just so much more than I am" Ianto blinked again. "Thank you, my love" said Jack "You always saw the best in me even when I couldn't see it myself. You and I together were always better than apart, you made me a better man and I'm scared that in 100 years, 1000 years 1,000,000 years that will all be lost. If we use the rings we will be combined into one – your brains and my beauty how could we go wrong?" Jack had looked at him his heart shining out of his eyes. Ianto had gathered the last of his strength and then reached with his left hand clasping the hand of the man who had been his life. Jack's smile had almost split his face and he'd dropped the glittering cascading rings so that they wrapped themselves around the clasped hands and wrists of the two men and Ianto had felt a sudden lightening bolt through his tired body that caused him to gasp, sit-up suddenly in his bed and then collapse back.
The next thing he knew he was standing up and looking down on his own lifeless body, no not his body Ianto's body, no it was his body. He smiled to himself softly, or should that be they smiled to themselves. Suddenly eternity didn't seem so long anymore.