38. Walking on broken glass
The first time it happened, Jack put it down to a stumble from tripping on the cobbles as they walked across the plas.
The next time it happened he turned to help him and saw his face.
Pale and drawn as he tripped over the same spot.
"Baby?"
Tosh, she used to wait for Owen there." He explained with a sigh.
"When I first started, you know. The pre-Lisa days. I used to watch her wait, hover as she hopped from foot to foot to keep warm. Waiting for Owen so she could walk in with him."
"Yeah?" Jack raised an eyebrow and looked back at the spot.
"Always making out she had just go there, always eager to see him" Ianto sighed. "He never knew."
"In the end, too late, I think he did" Jack squeezed Ianto's hand as they walked.
"She never gave up on him, always waited even when he was too hungover to care."
"Oh baby, he cared." Jack said softly, "She waited."
"Me too" Ianto said as he looked at his feet.
"What?"
"While you were away with the doctor. I …. Well. Same spot. Silly really" Ianto snorted.
Jack stopped walking and pulled Ianto towards him, a soft embrace with a kiss to boot.
"Tell me"
"While you were away I stopped at that spot every morning, before walking on to the office. Just a moment, like … you know. It worked for Tosh." Into shrugged, "I actually wrote in my diary while pissed one night that maybe it was not the right paving stone for me. It was only magical for Tosh. Next day I tried a different one, then another the next. When you came back I still had a few to go."
Jack stood dumbfounded as his heart broke.
"I never could remember which stone I had stood on that morning we went after the blowfish. Was actually quite angry. Should have made a grid." Then he laughed.
"Folly. But it kept me alive"
"Oh my lovely boy. I was gone so long. Weeks." Jack soothed.
"Over a year my love!" Ianto corrected, "That's why it was so weird. I knew by the stones how long you were gone. Though I'd miscounted but then I went back. You were gone longer than reality. I always wondered what it was."
"What did you decide?" Jack whispered.
"A reset. A paradox. Something to do with Saxon, never liked him!"
"Got harder each day." Ianto continued to walk and Jack struggled to keep up with the man and his ruminating.
"Babe?"
"I remember the day of the blowfish." He sighed, "My life was so bereft. I lived only to serve the team. My heart was gone. Left in your pocket I think."
"I remember walking across each wasted tile. Each unfulfilled wish for your return."
Jack pulled Ianto back into his arms and kissed him, feeling the Pyra in Ianto's pocket stir at the loss of movement.
"I love you kitty" Jack whispered and Ianto shone.
"Oh my love" Ianto murmured as he fell into the kiss.
As they continued their walk, Jack knew it would never be the same now. Each walk across the plas would remind him of the time he left his love behind.
Walking on broken glass.