Disclamer: I wish I owned Torchwood. But a wish is just a wish.
AN: This is just a one-shot that came to mind that just had to be written. I hope that you all like it.
and just for the record, it's unbetaed. just so you know
Enjoy :)
"You look tired."
The sudden words made Ianto jump high. He thought that he was alone down in the archives. But instead of looking as startled as he felt, he put on a soft smile and turned around.
"Just a little," he answered.
"I though I gave you a vacation so that you could get rested, not to come back more exhausted than when you left."
"I'm fine Jack. It's just jet-lag."
Jack put his arms around Ianto and pulled him close.
"I've missed you," he whispered softly before taking possession over Ianto's lips.
"I've missed you too," Ianto said as they broke apart for air.
Jack smiled down at him and continued to hug him. But it was not the usual hug. Ianto couldn't put his finger on what it was, but it was like Jack was looking for something.
"Something wrong?" he asked slowly as he looked up at Jack.
"You feel cold," Jack said slowly. "Are you sick?"
He looked down on Ianto with concern. Now that he was so close to Ianto he could see that the other man wasn't his usual self. He looked tired, and up close he looked pale. Paler than usual. And when Jack held him it wasn't warmth that met him, but Ianto felt cold.
And when he asked if Ianto was sick he could have sworn that for just a fraction of a second that Ianto had tensed.
"No," Ianto said. "I'm not sick. Just tired. You know, there's some time difference between Cardiff and Boston."
"Then you shouldn't come back to work the same day as you land."
"My flight was delayed," Ianto chuckled. "And I was supposed to be back at work today."
"Am I really that tough on you that I won't let you have an extra day off to rest?"
"No sir." Ianto smiled. "I just wanted to see you."
And he kissed Jack. As his tongue quickly got domination over Jack's and his hands roamed Jack's body, all thoughts of something wrong left Jack's mind and he let himself get consumed by Ianto.
"How the hell did you manage that?" Jack panted as he leaned against his knees trying to catch his breath.
He looked at Ianto who leant against the brick wall in the ally way, looking down on the unconscious weevil laying there.
"I tased it," Ianto answered with a shrug.
Jack looked at him for a second before standing up straight. He headed over to the weevil.
"How could you?" he asked. "You left the taser in the car."
"Always keep a spare," Ianto smiled at him.
But Jack wasn't convinced. He bent down and cuffed the weevil before looking up at Ianto again.
The pale moonlight made Ianto look even more pale than normal. And there was something different about him. Jack couldn't put his finger to what it was, but there was something in Ianto's appearance that didn't ad up. Something was off. And if Ianto didn't want to tell him, then he would just have to keep an eye on him until he figured everything out.
Jack sat by his desk. It had been two weeks since Ianto came back. And almost as long since Jack started to suspect that something was wrong. He'd tried to get Ianto to talk to him, but nothing. Every time Jack began to talk about the vacation in Boston Ianto smiled and just said that nothing interesting had happened. But Jack knew it was a lie. He wanted for Ianto to trust him. So he felt bad for not trusting Ianto. But how could he when he had a gut feeling that there was something Ianto didn't tell him? He'd began writing everything down in a journal. Everything that Ianto did that seemed out of place. Everything that wasn't usual behaviour.
It had started out with just a few entries. But the more Jack watched Ianto, the more things he noticed. For example they always got their lunch delivered to the tourist office since Ianto got back. And Ianto was always the first one in, and the last one out every day. Not that there was something wrong with that. But it actually seemed as if Ianto watched the clock to know when he could leave. There was also the fact that even after running five, ten, fifteen blocks even, Ianto never seemed to be out of breath. Jack wasn't sure if he was right in his assumptions or not, but he could no longer wait. So he put down the journal and opened the top drawer of his desk. There he found a small bottle. He sighed as he took it in his hand. This would hurt him more than it would hurt Ianto.
"You're working to hard," Jack smiled as he came down to the archives. "You need a little break."
Ianto looked up from the papers he was going through. He smiled when he saw Jack standing in the door with two steaming cups in his hands.
"Did you…?" his smile faded as he saw the cups.
"No Ianto. I did not touch your coffee machine." Jack chuckled. "It's tea."
"Oh." Ianto smiled again and put the file down.
Jack came up to him and handed him one of the cups. Ianto took it and smelled the steam.
"Smells nice."
"Vanilla, your favourite."
Jack took a sip from his cup, not taking his eyes from Ianto. But Ianto didn't drink. He still smelled the liquid.
"There's something else too," he said slowly.
Jack's smile faded.
"Just a little something extra to give it a nice touch. My special blend." He said.
Ianto looked up at him, judging him for a second. Jack never looked away. Then Ianto smiled at him and took a sip. Jack realised that he'd been holding his breath, so he let out a silent sigh.
"I didn't know you had special blends when it came to tea." Ianto chuckled as he took another sip before putting the cup down. "But I like it."
"Good."
Jack kept the cup in his hands while he watched Ianto. It didn't take long. Soon he saw Ianto's eyelids falling down, and Ianto began to sway on the chair, his muscles unable to hold him up. Jack took another sip of his tea and watched how Ianto slid down on the floor, unconscious. He put his cup down and sighed as he got up from the chair he sat on and walked over to Ianto. He looked down on the man for a few seconds and wondered if he'd done the right thing. He bent down and took hold of Ianto's body before dragging him to the cells.
An hour later Jack stood outside the cell where Ianto had begun to move. He was waking up. Jack looked at him. He tried to look neutral and was ready for any reaction.
Ianto moaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"What happened?" he croaked. His throat was soar and his head throbbed with a dull pain.
Jack didn't answer. He kept watching as Ianto sat up on the small bed that was attached to the wall. Ianto buried his head in his hands for a few seconds and blinked as he tried to orient himself. When he saw the glass door, and Jack on the other side, he took away the hand and looked both confused and angry.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded.
"What happened in Boston?" Jack asked. His voice was low and steady. He'd promised himself that he would not yell at Ianto. Nor would he use threats or any other negative thing to get Ianto to talk. He would just stay cool.
"What?" Ianto sounded like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You drugged me and locked me in a cell just so that I will tell you about my vacation?"
When he said it Jack had to admit that it sounded ridiculous. But there was more he wanted to hear.
"Amongst other things."
Ianto looked at him. He looked angry, furious even. And Jack calmly met his eyes. Moments passed with them just looking at each other, measuring strengths, trying to get the other one to look away.
Finally Ianto looked away and sighed.
"Fine. I'll tell you."
A small victorious smile flew across Jack's lips, but he didn't want Ianto to see it so he hurried back to his neutral expression.
"I had a two weeks vacation in Boston. I lived at a hotel, just like you ordered sir. I was out on the town, shopping, eating, enjoying myself. And I met an old fried. Nothing else."
"An old friend?" This was news to Jack. Ianto hadn't told him anything about meeting someone he knew there.
"Yes. An old friend. Eric. We spent some time together."
"Doing what?" Jack didn't want to admit it, but his first thought was that Ianto and this Eric had a relationship, and that was the reason that Ianto was action strange. But then again, the strange things concerning Ianto couldn't be interpreted into cheating.
"It's my turn to ask questions now sir." Ianto sounded calm, but Jack could hear the trembling undertone of anger. "Why is it so important for you to know what I did with Eric?"
"Because you're acting strange!" Jack didn't mean to, but he almost shouted it.
Ianto looked at him with some kind of shock, but also satisfaction. Jack cursed himself for loosing it.
"Ever since you came back you've been acting strange," Jack said again, much calmer, more neutral. "And I want to know why."
Ianto looked at him, and Jack could see the defiance in his every feature. If he'd been a weaker man, Jack would have backed away and opened the cell just from those looks. But Jack wasn't a weak man. Instead he looked back with all the authority he had. He even tried to look intimidating. And it seemed to work. Because finally Ianto sighed and looked away.
"Eric helped me," he said with a small voice.
"How?"
Ianto looked back at him and smiled sadly.
"You have an eternity," he began. "Forever. I only have a normal lifetime. And compared to you that's nothing, just a blip in time. Not worth to remember."
Jack felt his heart ache. He knew that this was something that troubled Ianto from time to time. And he himself thought about it sometimes. But that was how it was, and he couldn't change that.
"Ianto," he said with all his love in the voice. "You will never be a blip in time. I will always remember you."
He wanted to open the door, take Ianto in his arms and never let go. He was about to do it, until Ianto spoke.
"I know. Because I won't let you forget."
Those words stopped Jack dead in his tracks. He didn't like the sound of that statement.
"What do you mean?"
He was afraid to ask, but he knew that this was the reason for why Ianto was acting strange.
"Oh, you know what I mean sir." There was a smirk on his lips, and he sounded confident. Too confident for Jack's liking.
"Eric gave me a solution to our little dilemma." Ianto continued to smirk as he slowly opened his mouth.
Jack didn't want to watch. He didn't want to confirm what he already knew. But he looked. And what he saw broke his heart. In Ianto's mouth he saw fangs. Two sharp fangs stuck out and suddenly everything fell into place. Why Ianto had looked so tired. Why he always was so pale. Why he could run so long without getting tired. Why he kept track of the time for going home. Why he always got the food delivered. Jack swallowed hard. This was not what he wanted to know. He wanted to cry. This was his fault.
And then suddenly another, horrible, realisation got to him. His eyes got cold as he looked up at Ianto.
"How many?"
"What?" Ianto looked confused.
"You need blood to not starve. So how many?"
As Ianto understood where Jack was going he laughed.
"Come on sir. Do you really think I would hurt someone just to survive?"
"I don't know what to think anymore. So just answer me: how many?"
"Not a single one. I don't hurt people."
"Then how do you feed?" Now it was Jack's turn to be confused.
"There are blood banks you know."
"That blood isn't there for you. It's there to help those who need it."
"I need it. And besides," Ianto shrugged. "I only take the blood that's about to get old. Otherwise they just throw it away."
Jack looked disgusted. He wanted to throw up. He couldn't believe that it was Ianto standing there, talking so casually about drinking blood. And he couldn't believe that he'd actually kissed Ianto countless times since the return. Jack was not easily disgusted by things, but this was more than he could stand. And the fact that it was because of him made it even worse.
"Did you really think that I would hurt someone?" Ianto looked curious. If Jack didn't know better he would say that Ianto was in fact enjoying this.
"I don't know what to think," Jack said as he looked Ianto in the eyes. "First of all I didn't think that you would do something like this in the first place."
"But don't you see it Jack?" Ianto walked up to the glass. He placed one hand on it, in the same height as Jack's heart. "I did this for you. Now we can have the eternity together." He smiled and Jack had to fight back the tears.
"You're wrong," Jack whispered.
"What?"
Jack swallowed hard. This was more than he could take. And he couldn't hide the sadness in his eyes as he looked up and met Ianto's.
"I have an eternity to mourn the loss of the man I loved. An eternity of guilt for making you do this. And you will have an eternity of regrets."
He turned his back to the glass and began to move towards the door.
"What? Jack? You don't mean that! Jack! Come back here! Let me out!" Ianto screamed and banged the glass. "Jack! I love you! I did all of this for you!"
Jack froze for a moment as he heard the words. He swallowed hard again. Ianto had been right in one thing, he would never be forgotten, he'd made sure of that. Jack felt tears streaming down his cheeks, but he didn't care.
So as Jack left the dungeon he was followed by the screams. The screams from the one that he'd loved. From the man he'd loved. The man that had become a monster because of him.
Reviews?
and did you spot the little hint to another great show?