Ianto Jones woke up with a gasp. Jack was there, but Ianto Jones was sure that he had died.
"Hey, hey," Jack said, holding his shoulders a bit too tightly to be believable. "Ianto, it was just a nightmare-"
"No," Ianto said, still fighting for his breath. "No, it wasn't." Jack pulled him closer, and Ianto felt like crying. "Jack, I died!"
"No, you didn't," said Jack.
"Yes, I did! I remember-"
"You didn't-"
"Don't lie to me, Jack! Not now!"
Jack fell silent, swallowed hard. "You died," he confirmed. "The four-five-six released a virus. We both died, I- I tried so hard to save you, but-"
"Jack," said Ianto, voicing both their pain at his death, sobbing now into Jack's shoulder. Jack held him tighter, his reassuring heat chasing the chill of death away, his scent grounding Ianto. After a few minutes of assuring himself that Jack wasn t going to fade away, Ianto asked what had happened.
Jack pulled back a little, and looked at him carefully. "I thought you were dead. I was sure I had lost you forever. But - I don't really know how he did it, but the Doctor - Ianto, he saved your life."
Ianto laid back on the bed - not his bed - but he'd been lying there for god knows how long, so perhaps he'd be right in calling it his bed - god, he was confused. "But- how? Why?" he said.
"Very complicated answers, those two questions," said a voice to Ianto's left. He looked over and saw a man in tweed and a bow tie leaning against the door frame. "And frankly, we don t have the time to explain it in any sort of detail you'd like."
"The long and short of it is, we swapped you out with a duplicate," said an identical man who walked into view from behind him. "We needed to know how they did it to one of our friends, so we could stop it from happening to another one."
"River told us we practiced on you - she never mentioned we'd be saving your life."
"Or that Jack would run away, after. The dizziness from stasis should go away momentarily, Mr. Jones, just lie back and drink plenty of water over the next few days. It took a month to find a good time to pick him up. We couldn't do it until after that mess with the Blessing."
"Utter nonsense, that. Coming back from death is a rubbish blessing," said one of the men, shaking his head. "I'd rather have a cool hat. Now that's a proper blessing."
"Right you are," said the other. "Or maybe a box of unlimited cool hats."
"Ooh, that's a much better blessing, Doctor!"
"Why, thank you, Doctor!"
"Okay, I'm confused," said Jack. "How are there two of you?"
The two Doctors looked at each other seriously, then back at Jack, who still hadn't let go of Ianto. "No flirting, Jack?" said one of them. "Ianto Jones must be very special."
"He is," said Jack, and Ianto felt the old familiar paths in his mind start to be worn away, given how quick Jack was to claim him, even in front of the Doctor. Even in front of two of him.
A slow grin grew on their faces. "Well then," said the other Doctor. "We'll let you two get back to your happily ever after."
"I love it when we get to start those."
"So do I, Doctor."
"Oh, and everybody thinks you're dead, so no going around in the public eye," said one Doctor.
"Might be a fair time to retire, actually," said the other, as they started to walk away. "The twenty-first century is when everything changes, after all, and it's usually better to live through changes from the sidelines. So I've heard, anyway."
"Doctor?" said Ianto. They both stuck their heads back around the door frame. "Isn't there any way we can repay you?"
The phone in the hall rang. The Doctor picked it up. "Hello?" he said. "Yes, they're here. Why? What? No, you didn't. Really? Oh. What? What? You're joking! Well, it isn't very funny. Stop laughing. Stop it. Stop- Fine, put Rory on, then! Hello, Rory. Is she right? What, really? Ye- Yes. Yes he's fine. ... Well, my Latin's a bit schoolboy, but- Oh, alright," he said, pressing a button on the phone.
"Salve Iohannes," said a man's voice over the phone.
Jack straightened. "Salve Centurion," he replied. "I didn't know you were still around once the stars came back. Your box is gone."
"Yes," said the man Jack called Centurion. "We made sure of that. But I will always guard what was inside of it."
"Now that it's over, can you tell me-"
"My wife."
Jack fell silent. He did not tease this man for his obvious dedication to his wife, like he used to do to Rhys. Ianto wondered if it had something to do with losing the Doctor. Ianto wondered if it had something to do with losing him.
The voice through the phone was muffled for a moment, and then they heard a door close. "Sorry. I can't talk about this in front of her. I've only just gotten her back."
"But the stars came back two years ago."
"Etiam," said the Centurion. "Atque ea sunt furati. Et abstilit filiam meam. Et ne abiissent cognovits."
Ianto's Latin was a bit schoolboy as well, and the Centurion's voice was so think with emotion that he couldn't understand the words. But the weight of them - well, Jack had gone very pale. That was enough to tell Ianto that, whatever had happened, it had been very bad.
"You said you've only just gotten her back," said Jack.
The man on the other end of the line was silent for a moment. "They stole my daughter, my Melody, the day she was born," he said. "I didn't see her again until she was a grown woman." Ianto breathed, harsher than he meant to. "Are you alright, Mr Jones?"
"Fine," said Ianto.
"Keep an eye on his breathing for the next twenty-four hours, Jack; his Ganger died of a lung infection. I barely kept him from following at the time and I'm not sure how it'll affect him now."
"I will," said Jack. "I'd... forgotten that you were a nurse, before everything."
"Most have. Jack," he said, and then hesitated. "I... my daughter is a Time lord. And... I grew up with a girl named Melody, who'd been adopted by Ianto Jones, who lived with his partner, a man named Jack."
"I understand," said Jack.
"Spero vos eam velut praesidio custodiebat me Pandorica," the Centurion said, and even though only legends survived from that other time, that time without stars, Ianto suddenly realised that they'd been talking to the Last Centurion. He barely heard Jack's agreement and promise. They had been charged with raising the Lost Daughter of the Last Centurion, and Ianto Jones was glad that he was already lying down. Jack said his goodbyes to the Centurion, and the other man hung up.
"Well," said the Doctor.
The other Doctor let the moment settle. "Come to think of it, Ianto Jones, there is something you and Jack can do for me," he said. "How do you feel about spending a few years in Leadworth?"
With Many Thanks to MissEars for beta reading my Latin.