7
Toshiko found Ianto down in his beloved archives, sitting at a small desk staring into space.
"Ianto?" she said softly and he turned to face her.
"Sit down" he said softly and she sat.
"I was … well. You saw. I was an experiment gone wrong. Jack knows and has forgiven my ... unique set of circumstances." Ianto canted his head, "After all, he forgave yours as well."
She nodded, "But the dates don't add up."
"No" Ianto said calmly, "I was changed. Altered. I don't know if I am ageing slowly or not at all. You saw my date of birth; it was not a typo."
"Oh Ianto" she sighed.
"Please, just let it be" he begged, "Let it lay."
After a moment, she nodded and left.
Jack stepped out from behind the door and looked at Ianto long and hard.
"Why not just tell her the truth" Jack asked softly.
"Which one?" Ford whispered back as he rose and approached, pulling Jack into a kiss.
"A redirection, an avoidance and a definite shut down!" Jack panted, "But Gods, in the nicest possible way."
"When I'm ready, I'll tell. Please Cariad, not yet. I … it's not that I don't trust you, I just… it's so engrained in me to lie, to conceal. It physically aches when I give way another piece of myself." Ford placed his forehead against Jack's. "I never thought I would trust enough to give what I have."
"I could have killed you" Jack whispered.
"Perhaps you should have" Ford snorted as he stroked Jack's face with his elegant fingers.
"You are too rare, already too real to me" Jack said calmly. "This is not a lie; you do not hide here."
"No. Not from you my darling" Ford sighed, "God. You are something I never thought I could have."
"Really?"
"You think this is part of the game?" Ford whispered.
"Ford, I think we stopped playing the game with each other some conversations ago" Jack smiled softly.
"I know"
"Maybe one day you can stop playing with the apes out there" Jack said gently as he held Ford in his arms.
"Maybe. When I trust my own words to be the truth" Ford straightened and Jack found that they were the same height, Ford was much taller than the Ianto mask.
"Until then, I will trust you" Jack assured him, "I will wait and trust, one day you will trust yourself as much as I do, then you can trust your voice to be true."
"I worry" Ford looked up at the ceiling, at where Gwen's workstation sat, "I worry about their responses to my … uniqueness."
"I would worry if there isn't a response" Jack huffed, "I taught them better than that!"
Ford grinned and canted his head in a 'Ianto' way, "I don't know what you taught them at all, I think we have all muddled along with false bravado and big guns."
"Works for me!" Jack leered.
Ford laughed as he agreed.
Definitely.