Never To Say Goodbye
Disclaimer: This should honestly go without saying, but I don't own anything here.
Summary: Hearts may break and promises will be made to keep. Jack and Ianto face a hard prospect – what if they have to say goodbye. Ianto/Jack, Donna/Doctor. Part of the "Immortal Janto" series.
There are times when I realize how awesome Ianto is and how he should have more badass moments. This is one of those moments.
Here's something to tug at your heartstrings. I hope you like it!
He didn't know what all went down but Ianto knew that being held at gunpoint while the love of your immortal life has a knife at his throat wasn't good, even if your love was equally immortal.
Especially when your captors figured out how to create a time shield in which Ianto and Jack were on opposite sides and there was no way that the TARDIS could get through to Jack's side, since they were technically displaced in time. That meant that Jack would be killed as many times as their captors felt like it. Retribution was a bitch and the prospect of watching Jack die again and again was not something he wanted to do – ever. It stung enough when they faced down potential death every now and again.
Still, his eyes were fixed solely on Jack's tormented blue ones as the knife cut lightly into his skin, causing a trickle of blood.
"Your lover will suffer immensely," the dark-eyed man holding Ianto back crowed. "Pity you can't save him."
Ianto gritted his teeth. "You watch, I will."
"Not if he's stuck in that field. You don't have the technology to save him."
He knew that Jack could hear every word they were saying. Ianto's stomach clenched. This was the nuclear reactor, but in reverse. He was helpless and Jack would die.
"It's alright, Yan," Jack said, comfortingly, "a little pain and suffering is worth the time it'll take. You can beat them. You can save me. I know you can."
But Ianto didn't think he could. The tech was so far out of his league, even after all his time with the Doctor, and he was no Tosh. He didn't think Donna or the Doctor could get either one of them out of this safely, not without both of them dying more than a few times.
The TARDIS couldn't save Jack this time, even if the girl wanted to. She wouldn't be able to break past that shield. Jack was kept distorted from the proper time reality by a mere fraction of a second and that fraction of a second was all that was needed to block the TARDIS. Their captors were brilliant, far too brilliant to be mere mercenaries with a grudge against Jack. Ianto didn't know who had hired them, but whoever it was would pay dearly when Ianto found them. But right now, he didn't care about who had hired them. He worried for Jack.
Ianto's heart broke – no, not broke, shattered.
He didn't want to lose Jack, not like this.
Sure, they would get Jack out – eventually. Sure, it would be hard and they would both be better once they were safe and sound, back in their bed, in the room. But, Ianto didn't want to bank on abstracts right now. He needed to figure something out, something more concrete that would not involve large amounts of death. He needed Jack out of that godforsaken time-shielded prison and in his arms.
The elbow tightened around Ianto's neck a little tighter. His vision darkened some as his air supply was beginning to be cut off.
"Stop it!" Jack screamed. "Don't do kill him." The elbow loosened a bit and Ianto gasped for air. "He's nothing to you. Why kill him?"
A snarling laugh cut through the air. "Because he's everything to you, Jack Harkness. Don't think we don't know who you are, Face of Boeshane. We're here to make you suffer in any and all means possible."
"Fine, but don't kill Ianto. Please, for me, not him."
The terror in Jack's voice hurt Ianto. Memories rose unbidden to Ianto's mind and something inside of him sharpened, focused.
"Oh," the man at Ianto's side said, "not him?" He turned the gun from Ianto. Jack relaxed as much as he could with the knife still at his throat. But Ianto knew better. This wasn't going to end pretty.
"I love you, Jack." His voice was even, reassuring. Stormy blue eyes met ice blue eyes. Jack gave him a dashingly bright smile, full of hope and promise, despite the situation.
"I love you too, Ianto."
"Good bye, Jack"
He gave Jack a tiny smile as a gunshot rang out.
Ianto groaned as immense pain stabbed through his stomach. He fell to the ground, released from the hold of his captor. Blood seeped out of a bullet hole, staining his shirt a dark red. He clasped his hand over the wound, hoping to hide the eventual healing of said wound. Even if he didn't completely die from this, they needed to believe that he was going to die, because Jack's safety hung in the balance.
Jack's gasp echoed and, as Ianto rose his head to meet Jack's eyes, the knife slit across Jack's throat.
The Welshman rasped out a pained scream as Jack fell to the ground, blood seeping out of his throat. He felt so weak, some combination of blood loss and seeing the love of his life killed in front of him.
A swift kick to the ribs knocked him to the ground.
"Just wait, boy," their captor crowed. "You've got enough life left in you to see him die at least one more time." The smelly man bent down to Ianto's level. "And then, you die."
He pressed his hand against his wound and felt, with great satisfaction, as it closed up, the blood flow stopped. Ianto met the eyes of his captor with a deadly, even look.
"Hasn't anyone told you about me?"
"What?"
Ianto dropped his hand from his side and pushed himself up, standing totally straight. "There's more than one immortal in this universe and you shot a hole through my favorite waistcoat."
Then, and only then, did Ianto pull the gun he kept holstered in a well-concealed sling on his lower back. Cocking it, he aimed it at the captor, his face dangerous.
"What? How are you not bleeding?"
"Told you, mate, I'm immortal." Ianto looked around the room. "Which means that you can kill me all you like but you won't make a dent." He stared at the lead mercenary. "Now, tell me how to get Jack out of there and I'll consider doing the kind thing and not killing you. It seems to me that you lot aren't immortal."
He kept the gun trained on the leader as the rest of the group scurried about, freeing the time shield around Jack and Jack's killer. As Jack came gasping back into life, Ianto was at his side, helping him up. Ianto slipped his free arm around Jack, propping him up.
The air in the room was tense as the immortal duo stumbled out of the room. Ianto had his gun trained on the leader the entire time. No one challenged him. No one dared to.
Many years later, a story would be told of the fury of the immortals and there would be a grain a truth that was taken from that moment, from the cold look that shadowed Ianto's eyes. Few could ever understand the true pain of an immortal faced with the death of a loved one and few could ever capture that anxiety in its purest form.
But, when they crashed through the TARDIS doors, giving Donna and the Doctor a fright, Ianto finally lowered the gun and Donna carefully pulled the loaded weapon from his fingers.
Jack hugged him tightly. Ianto, hands totally free now, wrapped his arms around Jack. He could feel his husband shaking like a leaf. It took a lot to rattle Jack Harkness and this was one of those moments.
"Ianto," the Doctor said quietly, sagely, "get Jack back to your room before the twins wake up. They shouldn't see Jack like that."
"Of course, Doctor."
He bent down and picked Jack up, bridal style. Jack buried his head into Ianto's neck. He felt warm lips touch the juncture of his neck and his jaw, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. Gods, Jack's touch felt wonderful. Ianto started towards the door, only to stop as he heard the Doctor call his name once more. He turned to look at the ancient Time Lord.
"I don't want to see either one of you until Jack's ready, Ianto," the Doctor said cryptically. "The TARDIS has everything set up for you."
Ianto merely nodded to the Doctor before going about completing his mission.
It wasn't until he carried Jack into their room that he understood what the Doctor had meant. There was another room attached to their already large suite. Ianto smiled, very faintly. It was a kitchen, and a well-stocked kitchen at the looks of it. The TARDIS, bless her heart, was going to make sure that Ianto and Jack had all the time in the universe to be together, to recuperate, because that's what they needed, more than anything else.
He carefully laid Jack on the bed and climbed in next to him, ignoring the dried blood that caked his body. There would be plenty of time to clean that off later. Ianto had bigger things to worry about right now, namely Jack.
Speaking of which, Jack turned to face him, his brilliant blue eyes focusing on Ianto's face.
"Please never say goodbye again, Ianto," Jack rasped out before tears began to fall from his eyes. "I never want to hear you say that word to me ever again."
That must have truly hurt Jack's heart, Ianto realized, and, for that, he was upset. He hadn't meant to hurt Jack like that. He merely needed to make their captors believe that Ianto was a mortal, that Ianto could die, but Jack didn't need to hear his explanation right now.
Jack needed the promise.
"Never again, Jack," he said, "I swear I will never do that again." Tears spilled out of Ianto's stormy eyes. "I could never leave you, Jack Harkness. I love you way too much."
Hands roughly grabbed Ianto's shoulders. Jack pulled him in and kissed him desperately.
They held each other tightly as they both cried tears for what they had gone through together. Neither one really had the words to describe adequately what it felt like to go through that situation, but they both knew that they needed each other in order to get past it, to be able to move on in their lives and their relationship.
Finally, as their tears subsided for the moment, Jack looked down and saw the blood on Ianto's shirt and the fraying bullet hole in Ianto's waistcoat. He frowned and shook his head.
"Damn, I liked that waistcoat too."
Ianto carefully unbuttoned it, slipping it off. "I suppose we could see if the TARDIS can repair the poor thing. If not, then we'll have to pick a new favorite waistcoat together."
Jack grinned a proper Jack smile at that promise. They didn't need any more words for the moment, save the quiet "I love yous" that they whispered into each other's ears as they undressed. Ianto traced a finger lightly along Jack's neck, pleased to see that there was no residual scar from the path that the knife had cut along Jack's skin when that captor had killed him.
Dirty and bloody, the two men pulled each other into the bathroom, where they made good use of the Jacuzzi. Jack took great pleasure in slowly, tenderly washing Ianto off, scrubbing and kissing every inch of his husband's body. Ianto was lost in the bliss of the simple touches.
And, once they were both clean to Jack's satisfaction, they expanded their vocabulary from three words to five as they had quiet, sweet love in the Jacuzzi, the warm water relaxing what tension the sex couldn't relax. When Ianto orgasmed, he dropped his head against Jack's shoulder, fingers sliding down Jack's side as the American immortal snuggled on his lap, legs still straddling Ianto's hips.
As he recovered, Ianto looked up at his husband and smiled with great love. Gently, he pushed Jack's hair out of his face, noting how handsome Jack looked when his hair was utterly disheveled.
"No more dying like that," Jack quietly stated, as a fact.
Ianto shook his head, emphasizing the point. "Only deaths that mean something."
"I love you, Ianto."
"I love you, Jack."
So what do you think? Good installment to the series. Let me know. I'll try to get another story up ASAP!