Disclaimer: I unfortunately have nothing whatsoever to do with Torchwood. I just play with the characters.
Author's Note: I have two endings for this story. Here is my original ending. Let me know please how you like it and if you would like to see the other ending.
And I apologize for any OOC of the characters. This was orginally written for a school assignment and had to change the names.
I'm lying alone with my head on the phone, thinking of you till it hurts. I can't believe we fought. Especially over something so trivial. What makes this unbearable, however, is the knowledge that you are hurting as well.
I'm sorry.
For what I did and what I am about to do.
Remember that I love you.
- Ianto
Jack sighs and lays the note onto his metal desktop. He then places his head in his hands, once again struggling to hold back the tears that threatened to overcome him. Jack thought there had been, at one time, a potential for Ianto and himself as a couple. But the day that Jack had gathered enough courage to ask Ianto out on a date, Ianto had asked Georgia, the new girl, out to dinner, causing Jack to almost make a fool of himself.
"Ianto, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" inquired Jack. Ianto nodded and followed his employer. They stopped at the fountain outside of the Hub and stood in silence for a few seconds. They were taking time to enjoy the clear, crisp Welsh day. Now how many humans notice how blue the sky is or how, when the wind blows just right across one's body, one can feel every curve, every shape that is them? pondered Jack. Finally he took a deep breath, about to start when Ianto spoke instead.
"Sir, is this about me asking Georgia on a date?"
Jack caught himself short. What? he thought. Being a Con Man and a Dimension Diver had, fortunately, taught Jack to be quick thinking when a plan or a cover was about to fall through.
"Yes Ianto. I want you and Georgia to be careful to not let anything between you two affect your work."
"Yes sir."
"And be careful. I've seen many people destroyed by an office romance. Try not to get pulled in so far that you can't come back out unscathed."
Ianto nodded, relief shining through his eyes and posture. Though Jack's heart was breaking, he was capable of exuding an air of concern and professionalism.
"You may get back to work now, Ianto."
Ianto gave a half bow and strolled back into the Hub. Jack stayed by the fountain, just standing there, and watched the sun set. The moon had risen the pinnacle of the sky before Jack moved.
February 15th, 2001
Jack was right. I made a mistake. Georgia was nothing but a player. She used me as a ploy for revenge against her husband. But let me backtrack, and explain.
Georgia and I had been dating for six months. Last night, Valentine's Day, I decided that it would be nice to have a formal dinner between the two of us to commemorate our half-anniversary. I set up a reservation at the La Amour. Georgia was thrilled when I told her, and promised to meet me there.
I arrived five minutes early, to give us time to check in and be seated. Once I was seated at our table, which was almost immediately, I waited. And waited. Ten minutes passed. Thirty. An hour finally passed.
Finally, an hour and a half after our reservation, Georgia shows up. But she is not alone. She is on the arm of her husband, whom I didn't know she had. When she saw me she smiled and waved.
"Hello Ianto. This is my husband Richie. Richie, this is Ianto. I work with him." Richie held out his hand for me to shake. I ignored it, instead standing and walking past both out of the restaurant mustering as much dignity as I could. Once outside, I ran blindly and eventually stopped by the fountain outside of the Hub. Jack must have seen me running or I must have tripped the security on the building because next thing I knew he was kneeling beside me.
"Was it Georgia?" he asked, gently lifting my chin so he could gaze into my eyes. My reaction must have convinced him of the circumstances. As I sobbed convulsively, Jack held me close.
"Jack, we've been searching this area for hours." complained Owen, the Hub's doctor. "I'm sure that if anyone had been hiding a secret lair on our doorstep, we would have found it a lot sooner than this."
"Don't be so sure." replied Jack, snapping shut a leather bound book in his hands. Grabbing his walkie-talkie, he phoned in the rest of the team, ordering them to meet at the fountain.
"Alright, we are spreading out our search. Owen and Tosh, go check out the docks and that tiny, isolated village in the woods where the cannibals used to live. Gwen, you are coming with me and we are searching Ianto's childhood home. Do a thorough search. When you are done, meet back inside the Hub."
"Why is Jack going to such an extent searching for Ianto?" pondered Owen, trying to open yet another door into yet another warehouse on what seemed to be the never-ending docks.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I am betting that Jack either feels guilty for allowing Ianto and Georgia to get so far in their romance instead of heading it off or there might be something more between them." replied Tosh, shining a torch down a narrow opening between two warehouses. They weren't doing as through a job as what Jack wanted them to be doing, but they still had to look at the cannibal's village.
"You honestly don't think that Jack, Captain Jack, would go for the tea-boy? The elusive Jack whom we blindly follow without knowing a bloody thing about him? I personally don't believe that he is capable of such feelings." retorted Owen, completely ignoring five separate doors as he walked past them at a brisk pace. Half-heartedly pulling on a handle, Tosh stared in surprise as it opened easily.
"It's getting late, let's go check out the village." Owen mumbled, walking back to the black SUV. Tosh followed, already planning a quick detour to the Hub to delete the camera footage of the door opening and them walking away. If they were lucky, Jack would never know.
Jack smiled. He was skimming through some of Ianto's yearbooks and short stories and pictures he had discovered while searching for any clues as to where Ianto might be. The majority was childhood and teenagedom nonsense stories about dragons and monsters and life. Then one piece caught his eye. More like one specific word.
Suicide.
For a moment all Jack did was stare at the word before hastening to read the rest surrounding it.
December 25th, 1999
Christmas is a time of year when one is supposed to be happy and caring and loving. Instead I am driven to the brinks of insanity. To the brinks of suicide. My family is in complete turmoil. My friends have turned on me.
And my girlfriend, Ceria, has torn out my heart.
I almost leapt off the Cliffs of Balanmorea today. But something stopped me. Like someone or something was saying no, you are not done here yet. No.
Quick as a flash Jack had put aside this journal entry and was searching for more. None spoke of the suicide, but plenty mentioned the Cliffs of Balanmorea.
"Gwen! Hurry up, we're leaving!" shouted Jack, pounding down the stairs from the second floor to the first. Gwen entered the hallway from the drawing room where she had been looking at the photo albums.
"What is it Jack?"
"I think I know where Ianto is. Hopefully he is still alive." was all Jack would tell before throwing himself behind the wheel of the black SUV.
Owen and Tosh had just pulled up too the village when Tosh's cell phone rang. Touching her Bluetooth she answered.
"Hello?"
"Tosh? I want you and Owen to stop whatever you are doing and get over to the Cliffs of Balanmorea immediately."
Dead air. Tosh sighed and told Owen of their new orders.
By some strange happenstance, Owen and Tosh had arrived at the Cliffs before Jack and Gwen. When Jack pulled up, they got out of the SUV and went to confront him.
"Jack, what's the meaning of this?" demanded Tosh. "We had just arrived at the cannibal's old village when you called. What's wrong?"
Jack ignored her, actually physically pushing her out of his path in his rush to get to the edge of land. "Ianto!" he shouted, peering at the rocks below. "Ianto!"
"Jack! There's smoke about a half-mile to the south. Do you want us to -" Gwen never finished her sentence as Jack went tearing off towards the south. He couldn't see any smoke, but at the moment, he was entirely willing to trust Gwen.
Five minutes later, Jack burst into a clearing and saw Ianto lying half-in, half-out of a small creek, right hand in a small fire. Jack rushed over and checked for a pulse. Ianto's eyes flickered and opened at his touch.
"Jack? Sir?" he asked voice weak and breathy.
"Ianto. Why? Why did you do this?"
"To purify myself before death. I can feel him hovering ever closer to me. All the time. Every day stepping forward another foot or two closer to me." Ianto drew in an agonizing breath. "This is an interesting way to day. A mixture of starvation, freezing and burning. Definitely not common." Ianto attempted a laugh, but it turned into a hacking cough instead.
"Ianto, you don't have to go through with this. Owen can heal you; I'll nurse you back to health and take care of you. You don't have to die." Jack started to shake Ianto by the shoulders slightly with each word he spoke, desperation thick in his voice.
"I am sorry Jack."
"Tell me then, who was the note for?"
"You. And Georgia. But mostly you. I love you." Ianto then grew still. Jack held him close, crying rocking back and forth, unable to believe that he had lost another person close to him. The smell of burned flesh intermingled with the natural smells of nature. All around, life kept going. In the forest. In the cities. In the whole planet. And only four people were aware of the death of a young Welshman named Ianto. Only four people knew of the travesty.