A/N: I hope you like the chapter. Thanks for all your reviews, please keep them coming. :)

The conversation between Ianto and other characters are taken from the episode Cyberwoman.

CHAPTER SIX

Ianto stared up at Captain Jack Harkness from his place kneeling on the cold damp concrete floor. The guilt had always been a presence in Ianto Jones's life since the day he'd set out to save Lisa, only at this very moment, staring up into furious blue eyes it felt a thousand time more worse. Over the month Ianto had been working with Jack, he'd never seen a look so intense. Even when they'd meet and Jack had become frustrated at Ianto's never ending pursuit of him, he hadn't seemed practically angry, but now he looked like he was more than willing to pull the trigger.

"Did you know what thing was down there?"

"I put her there." Ianto informed him matter-of-factly.

"You hid a Cyberman within Torchwood and you didn't tell us. – What else are you hiding from us." Jack said angrily though tightly clenched teeth and he gripped Ianto's hair, pulling his head back so the younger was forced to look at him.

As much as he understood Jack's anger, his defensive instincts were quick to take control. When Jack shouted, accusing and threaten, Ianto snapped.

"Like you care! – I clear up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life?"

Ianto glared up at Jack, something passed over his features. Tears burning in Ianto's eyes as he told the people he'd spent months working alongside why he'd done what he'd done. "Her name's Lisa. She's my girlfriend."

There was sympathy on all their faces, especially Gwen. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you."

Ianto glanced at her. It was the most infuriating and yet endearing thing about Gwen Cooper. Her ability to care. Thing was she didn't get it. After weeks of working at Torchwood, she still didn't understand what they did. How it worked. What had to be sacrificed?

"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?"

Owen snip about loyalty irritated him. The man could never understand what Ianto had gone through. Watching Lisa go through the pain. Ianto was sure that Owen Harper never loved anyone but himself. He could never understand that his only loyalty was to the woman he loved. "My loyalties to her…" Ianto sniffed.

He turned his gaze back to Jack, pleading for him to understand. Lisa was a part of torchwood and deserved their help. "…we owe it to her to find a cure."

There was honest compassion in Jack's eyes as he tried to gently tell Ianto that there was no hope. That her existence placed the world in danger. But Ianto could listen. He couldn't allow himself to be convinced that there was no hope for her.

Jack's compassion turned to anger as Ianto shot to his feet, his own anger boiling up inside him. "You're not listening to me. The conversion was never completed!" he snapped at Jack.

"She already tried to kill Gwen. You think she's going to stop there?"

Ianto's gut clenched tight at the memory of Doctor Tanizaki. His bloody and disfigured body lying beneath the tarp in the basement. It was an accident, post-traumatic stress. Lisa hadn't meant to kill him. That what he kept telling himself. He couldn't allow the doubts to take root. He needed to cling on to his hope, no matter what Jack said. Because he'd worked so hard to save Lisa. But that's what you didn't when you loved someone. You sacrifice.

Lisa was come back to him. They would be happy again. He had spent so long believing in that, planning for that, that anything else was unthinkable.

"I love her." He wasn't sure whether he was trying to convince them to save her, or himself that it was true. "Can you understand that Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?"

Ianto felt his heart skip as he stared up into the blue eyes of Captain Jack Harkness. It wasn't that he expected him to say 'You'. That would be foolish, they weren't like that. It was the shadow that lingered in those blue depths that told Ianto that Jack had loved… and had been hurt more than once.

When Jack took a step forward, his gaze locked with Ianto's and his voice low, the younger man felt his throat close and the oxygen become a prisoner of his lungs. He ignored the warmth Jack close proximity and voice stirred in him. He focused on Lisa. This was all about Lisa.

"You need to figure out whose side you're on here, because if you don't know, you're not going to make it out of this alive."

The sound of metal on metal drew everyone's attention as Lisa appeared bring a halt to the conversation. Ianto knew he had one chance to save Lisa from Torchwood. He had to show them that she wasn't a monster. That she was still human. Still Lisa.

"Let me talk to her. I can still save her. Save us all. – She's not a monster." He pleaded.

Jack gave him a small nod of approval, despite Gwen's protests.

Ianto walked slowly towards Lisa, his hands spread wide to show he wasn't a threat. His voice gentle and pleading as he spoke. He needed to prove she was still Lisa, still the woman he loved. – Though whether he wanted to prove it to them or himself he would never know.

He listened to her inform them of her plans. Her harsh robotic voice cutting deep into his heart as she told them she would rebuild the cyber-army from their small little corner of wales.

When Jack spoke, he wasn't sure if the Captain was trying to reach the humanity or taunt the Cyberman within. When Lisa turned to look at her reflection in the glass hope blossomed in his chest and he pressed forward. Speaking with affection. Reminding her of who she was. He knew he sounded desperate but he didn't care. He'd planned to save Lisa; he was not going to stop trying.

"We can help you."

"I must start again. – Upgrade properly."

Ianto was flooded with so many emotions all at once. Anger, desperation, fury, hate. He'd tried everything, given everything and she was just going to give up. "For God's sake, have you heard yourself!" he snapped. "Lisa please…"

The tears were burning his eyes till he couldn't see straight. He head hurt, his heart hurt and he felt completely empty. For so long Lisa was all he'd allowed himself to care about. Nothing else. No one else. Just Lisa.

"I brought you here to heal you…" it sound like surrender to his ears. "…so we could be together."

"Together. Yes. – Transplant my brain into your body…."

It pained him to see the cold look in her eyes. The lack of emotion that confirmed she'd been converted.

"…the two of us together, fused. We'll be one complete person."

Ianto couldn't hold back the tears, the dam burst inside him taking his hope with him. The more Lisa spoke in that emotionless, heartless mechanical way, the more he knew that he'd lost her forever. It was over. His plan had failed. Looking up to meet her dark brown gaze he felt his heart shatter painfully within him as she asked.

"Isn't that what love is?"

"No."

Ianto hadn't expected her outrages expression, or her violent reaction. It was clear that despite what he'd seen and heard there was still just a spark of humanity in her. It small spark that hated rejection. That was the only way to explain the vice like grip she had on his throat as she lifted him off his feet. The spark of humanity was there but Ianto didn't see it, or if he did something would not allow him to acknowledge it. Instead he clenched his eyes shut and prepared to die at the hands of the woman he loved.

He felt himself flying through the air, gravity pulled him down. It hit the concrete slop at Jack's feet and everything went black. The last thing he heard was gun fire and Jack shouting orders.

"Code nine maneuvers, go!"

His last throat was a hope that Lisa wouldn't kill him too.