38

Tarn was sitting next to Ianto as they aimlessly watched daytime TV.

Ianto was feeling flat and Tarn had a study day so he had snuggled down on the sofa with the excuse of a cold.

It was nice having the soft quilt over both of them, and although the TV programme was stupid, they both laughed at the really dumb bits.

Finally Ianto turned it off and let his head fall back.

"Can I ask you something I probably shouldn't?" Tarn said nervously and Ianto rolled his head to the side, looking at his 'other' son.

"Try me" Ianto said softly.

"CJ, he said that you went away. Were taken and then came back." Tarn frowned.

"Ah. The Rift." Ianto smiled to himself.

"OK, I don't talk about it and I never repeat myself." Ianto said as Tarn sat up and looked at him with interest.

"Just between us, right?" Ianto asked and Tarn nodded.

"I died" Ianto whispered. Tarn went very still and gaped.

"First, I died. When the 456 came and tried to take the children. Jack and I confronted them and I died in his arms" Ianto sighed.

"But, I mean. How?" Tarn screwed up his face.

"The rift. Jack heard about a place where the dead were being brought back for séances and stuff." Ianto explained, "An old pub that had been named "The House of the Dead."

"Appropriate name" Tarn frowned and Ianto laughed softly.

"Jack went there, hoping that whatever rift energy they were using would bring me back, my spirit so he could tell me he loved me" Ianto went on, "The problem was, his love was so strong that I came back all the way. Plucked from his brain, straight into existence."

"So that's how you came back" Tarn sighed.

"No. I died again" Ianto corrected him.

"Huh?"

"To fix the rift tear that was giving the place it's power, I had to step into the tear with a bomb and blow it up" Ianto said sadly, "I tricked Jack into thinking I was leaving with him then left him at the doorstep."

"OH MY GOD" Tarn's eyes seemed to fill his face.

"I remember a sensation of floating. Like, in a warm pool of jelly." Ianto shrugged. "But there was all this golden light. I remember crying, wanting Jack and hating myself for tricking him into letting me go."

"So what happened?" Tarn begged.

"A voice"

Tarn wriggled to the edge of the sofa and gaped some more.

"A magical, musical voice said "I give life" and I woke up." Ianto sighed.

"Where!"

"In the old hub, where I had been happiest with my Jack. Unfortunately Unit was rifling through the debris from the old explosion and I was … er. .. Detained." Ianto shrugged, "I kept asking for Jack, kept begging for him. They kept asking me about miracle day like I had any idea what crap they were talking. Finally, someone leaked the file to Jack and he came for me. Damn near set the world on fire."

"Oh wow" Tarn sighed romantically.

"He had that coat, his gun drawn and he was screaming with rage" Ianto smiled as he remembered, "The place was on fire, god knows what he had done as a diversion. He took me to a safe house and held me. For almost a week I even had to pee with him hugging me from behind, scared that it was a dream and he would wake up to a cold bed again."

"So, you always loved him?" Tarn smiled.

"Apart from one time when I shot him but that's another story and he deserved it" Ianto said calmly as Tarn clapped his hands.

CJ leaned against the wall in the hallway as he processed the story he had never actually heard before.

Wow. Dad had set the world aflame for Tad.

CJ thought of his Tarnished one and smiled.

Yeah. It could all burn for one more kiss.