7

"What are you doing here, Toshiko?"

Ianto hugged his best friend in reaction before pulling back, uncomfortable with the sudden urge to show affection that had come over him. Maybe he'd been living with the humans for too long. Yet, when Toshiko looked at him, eyebrows tightened together and forehead wrinkling in worry, Ianto understood what was going on. He swivelled quickly, reaching for his dagger, but patted his side a few times before glancing down to see his dagger missing from its sheath. He looked up into the smug face of the hunter as he stepped toward him.

"Give me my dagger back."

"Why should I?"

"So, I can gut you from chin to...lower." His gaze dipped to Jack's groin, completing his meaning.

"Hmmm. I'll pass."

Just as he tensed to throw his first blow, he uncrossed his hands and held them high in front of him, as if to show he meant no harm. "I'm not here to fight. I just want to talk."

"Bullshit! You're here to charge me with a crime I didn't commit. You'll return me to Torchwood. There'll be a dummy trial, at the conclusion of which I'll be executed. No, thank you." Ianto spat, glancing at Toshiko with anger.

"What if I said I would get you an audience in front of the Protectorate, and if I think for a minute that they're pushing an unfair verdict, I'll get you out of Torchwood and protect you for as long as you need?"

"I'd say, you can suck my dick if you think I would stand in front of the Protectorate and trust you to ensure my freedom. Someone is trying to wipe out the royal family, and it could be you or a member of the Protectorate themselves. I'm not taking that chance. So, if you'll just return my dagger to me, I've got some tomatoes to purchase, and then I've got something to find...without your help."

Ianto put his right hand out, palm up and slammed his left hand onto his hip, staring him down, but clearly, Jack wasn't done with him yet. "There's something else I should tell you."

"I don't want anything else from you except my weapon."

Jack palmed the curved dagger, admiring it for a moment before laying it into Ianto's outstretched hand. He turned it over a few times inspecting it for damage before, satisfied, he sheathed it at his side once more. More than anything, he wanted to put it to use, but this wasn't the time or place. If he kept pressing his luck though... "I think we're done here. See you around, hunter."

As he turned, dismissing him instantly out of the corner of his eye he saw him cross his arms once more as he said, "Prince Ianto, despite what you think, you're not the last of the royal line."

Ianto paused briefly, looking at him over his shoulder. He was just trying to manipulate him, but he wasn't anyone's fool. With a shrug, he said, "My mother disappeared. No one's heard from her in almost seven years. She gave us all up for freedom, I guess."

The pain of her absence was still strong, and Ianto often questioned if he'd done something wrong or, at least, hadn't done something right to cause his mother to flee.

"Do you really believe your mother left for her freedom? Do you think she would ever leave your father or you without good reason?"

Now, Jack had his curiosity piqued. His father never wanted to discuss his mother's absence. he assumed it was because he was angry at her, but even if the hunter were just lying to get him to go with him, he wanted to believe there might be another reason his mother left Torchwood, and especially her child, behind. "Well? Why else would she have left?"

"To protect your unborn brother."

It was like every ounce of blood in his body came to a standstill in that moment. Even his lungs seemed to stop working as his brain tried to process what he was saying.

His mother had just disappeared without a trace, and this man who had been searching for him for who knows how long was going to tell him that she was pregnant with another child who was in danger.

Ianto didn't want to admit it, but he needed to hear what he had to say. "What is your name, hunter?"

"Jackson Harkness."

Ianto sucked in a low breath at the realization. He had been orphaned and taken in by the state. The last name Harkness was a generic name given to those with no parentage trained to be a warrior for the kingdom. He lived by a code of honour that few could achieve. Maybe it was time to listen to him.

With a quick glance to a shady area under a nearby tree, Ianto started toward the spot and said over his shoulder "Come on. Let's talk. But I better like what you have to say."

Once they were both settled beside each other, Ianto leaned his back against the trunk of the tree and looked at him expectantly. He sprawled out beside him, leaning onto his right elbow.

"A prophecy was given before you ever came to be born that two royal children born years apart would bring unrest to the land. To keep the world at peace the two must be separated, never in the same world together. If this wasn't heeded, the consequences would mean one would die unnaturally."

"So, you mean to tell me that my mother went away because of this prophecy. That's a load of bullshit if I ever smelled it."

Jack ran his free hand down his face. "So much of it has come true though. Your mother got pregnant many years after you were born. You were around twenty. And...well...there's more."

"Of course, there is. Okay. Lay it on me."

"When the time comes that one will ascend, the two will return to battle once more."

"What? Wait, let me get this straight. I'm supposed to battle my what? Six-year-old brother for the throne. Not buying it. And not doing it. Even if it is true, I didn't kill my father, and I won't kill a child."

Memories of when he'd been asked to do once before came flooding back. Never again would he be someone else's puppet.

Having heard enough, Ianto stood and dusted his hands clean, and Jack quickly got to his feet, too. "You can't deny that your father was assassinated, and that means it is time for you to ascend to the throne. If he wasn't assassinated by you, then who? Don't you want answers? Don't you want to make the real killer pay?"

"You of all people know that you have no control over the actions of your parents. My parents chose to believe in superstition and let it control the choices in their lives. I am not my parents. I'll be seeing you...mmm...never." Ianto started to step away, but Jack's hand gently wrapped around Ianto's upper arm, halting him. He leaned in until there wasn't more than two inches between them. His masculine scent of spice and musk hit Ianto's nose, and without thought, he pulled in more.

Ianto noticed the flecks of gold in his eyes and the light dusting of stubble covering his angular cheeks. He was too attractive for his peace of mind.

"I'm accountable every day for my parents' actions. I wouldn't be who I am without them and the choices they made, for better or for worse. And, for the record, you aren't running away from this because of some higher moral principle. You're running away because that's what you do. If you don't want to deal with something, it's obvious that your only course of action is to run as fast and as far as you can."

With a jerk, Ianto pulled his arm from his grip. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I do choose to run away usually, but I'm not this time. I have a plan, and it's a damn good one, so if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work."

"Not without me."

"What?"

"Where you go, I go."

"No. Actually, let me put it this way. Fuck, no!"

Ianto walked away without even looking back.

"Where will you go, Ianto, that I won't find you? You know I'll always be right there the minute you turn around. Wouldn't you rather have me where you can keep an eye on me?"

Damn it! He was probably right. For the first time, his words made sense.

"Why, Jackson? Why are you doing this?"

"You can call me Jack, and to answer your question, because I made a promise to your father that I would bring you home where you belong. That's what he asked me to do well before he was assassinated."

Ianto's chest tightened at the thought of his father and never seeing him again. They were close once, when he was much younger, but disillusionment had pushed him further away. He hadn't been able to reconcile the man he'd called father with the man who would order him to kill a child.

The paradox of his father had never become clear for him and if he hadn't run there might have been a chance that he would have understood. Maybe Jack could help him get the answers he needed. "Okay, I'll go with you. And, then we're good, right?"

"Yes. Then we're good."

"You'll leave me alone?"

He seemed a little shifty, but he nodded. "I'll leave you alone...if you want me to."

Ooooooh! He really knew how to make his blood boil. "Do you promise?"

"I promise."

"Good. This serves my purposes well. I just happen to need to go back to Torchwood. There is something there I need for my plan."

His forehead did that confused wrinkle again. "You mean, you were going back to Torchwood anyway?"

Ianto nodded, the edges of his mouth lifting ever so slightly. He could get used to this smiling stuff. "But let's take your car. I think it's a bit roomier...for, you know, weapons, tomatoes, and shit."

"Sure. And for an apparently growing wackadoo crew."

He pointed toward a waving Toshiko, who was now holding a very grumpy looking feline.

"Oh, of course," Ianto agreed dryly "room for the crew."