WARNING............CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR 'THE DEADLINE' SO IF YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO IT DON'T READ! AN ADDED SCENE RIGHT AT THE END....BECAUSE I'M TOO SHORT OF FLUFF!!!!!

Ianto looked away from Jack unable to meet the sincerity in his eyes.

"I never agreed to that promise Ianto, we have to talk about this. I can see it's hurting you."

Jack watched somewhat worriedly as tears rolled over Ianto's pale cheeks. The younger man sniffled and wiped them away before turning back. Jack hitched a breath at the sadness laid bare.

"Ianto?"

"I would've sat there Jack. I would have sat there in that chair and waited for you to wake up, even if it took my entire life....." He sniffed again. "I can't even begin to understand how your life makes you feel, but I do know what losing you would do to me. It was like that time after Abbadon, when you died and..... then....."

"And then I left you. That's something else we never talked about." Jack cautiously reached out a hand and stroked Ianto's arm. "It's who I am Ianto. I wish I could change it, I really do because if I could I would do that for you."

Ianto stood there, unmoving his blue gaze fixed on Jack's.

"But then you wouldn't be who you are. Those things Jack, they leave me in awe, you're like magic..... you are so beautiful, why would I want to change that?"

Jack smiled faintly at him, grasping the arm he had been stroking and gently pulling Ianto against him. Ianto settled himself in that warm comforting place, his head resting against Jack's shoulder.

"You really are amazing, you know that right?" Jack mumbled into his neck, lips brushing at his skin.

He could feel Jack's fingers carding through his hair, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He loved this man beyond reason and had long since accepted the doomed nature of where that love would take him.

"It's you Jack, you make me like that. I would have died with Lisa if you hadn't have helped me, you saved me Jack. I don't care about the past, about why you left or the fact that you did. You came back and you're here now. If going away again made you happier, then I'd let you go, but I never want to see you lying there like that again. You could have gone on forever just stuck in that trance....." He lost his resolve again and the tears back and Ianto pulled away wiping the offensive display of emotion from his face...

"Sorry...I'm a mess, can you imagine what Owen would've made of that?" He kept his eyes downcast until he'd reigned his feelings in a bit. Jack watched him closely, Ianto was truly at his most beautiful at times like this, these rare moments when who he was really shone through.

"Don't apologise. Ianto?"

He finally looked up, his eyes reddened and puffy.

"You know why I smile when I'm asleep?"

Ianto shook his head. "Because I DO sleep. It's the only time, when I am with you I sleep. The last time was with Estelle. I feel safe enough to close my eyes and let go because I know you are watching over me." Jack grasped his hand again. "Thank you."

Ianto squeezed his hand back almost to reassure himself that it was still there and warm with life.

"Gwen'll be waiting outside you know."

Jack briefly kissed his forehead. "We're not done talking yet Ianto Jones, but you're right and anyways I'm hungry." He tugged on Ianto's hand for a moment before letting it go. "Come on, I think we should get some dinner."

Ianto rolled his eyes and followed Jack out of the hospital room. "Always thinking with your stomach."

Jack threw him a grin over his shoulder. "I wasn't thinking about food."

Somehow Ianto wasn't surprised.