Still, in front of the artefact, Ianto hesitated. His life would change. His life would never end. Was he really ready to sacrifice a mortal life?

For Jack, he was. It was his way of telling Jack to never forget him. It was a good thing to do. Ianto sure hoped it was...

He turned when he heard Jack stir in his sleep, and smiled when the man he loved put his hand on his face and moved a bit, opening his mouth. Soon enough, Jack was snoring lightly and Ianto ran a calm hand through Jack's hair. Yes, he wanted to give him his normal death. He leaned on to press a kiss to Jack's hand and took a deep breath, turning his back on him and looking at the artefact. He just needed one last move, and the thing would open. At least, he hoped.

Ianto smiled through his tears and finished the puzzle. He heard something unlock and soon enough, a warmth spread through his hands, then he felt abruptly cold as a little flame jumped out of the stone-looking artefact.

Ianto blinked, his vision blurred by the tears, and saw the flame... sneezing? What? It didn't even have a mouth, let alone a face. Ianto shook his head and smiled at the flame which flew around him with a strange buzzing. It stopped in front of Ianto after a while.

Ianto stared at it then looked away, at Jack. Determined, he looked back at the flame.

"Make him mortal, please," he whispered, begging. Even though he wasn't sure he needed to talk. Or if the flame would understand 21st century English.

Apparently, it did, as it flew around for a while, then went straight into Jack, through his mouth.

Ianto swallowed hard. God, he hoped he wasn't doing a big mistake. Too late for this sort of fears...

He could follow the flame's trail, which was blowing a bit under Jack's bare skin. Jack groaned in his sleep when the fading light was around his heart, then it was glowing even harder and Ianto stared with worry.

The flame got out a few seconds after, through Jack's ear. Jack gasped suddenly and straightened with a painful breath. He looked straight into Ianto's eyes.

"What have you done?" He said instantly, as if knowing.

Ianto gulped and looked away, at the flame still flying around happily, waiting to go in Ianto, probably. Jack stared at it, shocked, then at Ianto. When the flame approached Ianto, Jack put his hand to cover Ianto's mouth and nose. The flame bumped into Jack's hand and another buzzing filled the room, sounding angrier than previously.

Ianto tried to push Jack away, but Jack shove him against the bed, covering one of his ears with his free hand. Ianto struggled, needing to breathe, but Jack kissed him, covering his other ear with his now free hand.

Ianto was starting to suffocate, and he pushed Jack long enough to breathe and for the flame to sneak inside him.

"Ianto!" Jack said and tried to shake Ianto, but he suddenly stilled and Jack stopped.

It was both painful and appeasing. The flame moving within Ianto was warm and safe, but as soon as it moved to another part of his body, Ianto was left cold and numb in the other area. He felt like his skin was burning but his bones felt so cold. Eventually, the warmth died out, he briefly saw the flame whooshing out of his nose and fading away. And then the pain began. Awful pain. It was as if someone was stabbing him in the stomach, burning his back, hitting his legs, punching his face and cutting his arms. He screamed, covering Jack's voice.

Then he went silent. He heard Jack begging him to stay with him, then nothing. The pain stopped. He could see nothing, he could feel nothing. Darkness. More than darkness, black, only black. His whole being was both here and gone. He was both floating and crushed down against something flat. He was both feeling and not feeling. Panicked and peaceful. Worried and reassured. Fighting it and letting it be a part of himself.

Then he was gasping and everything came back and it all hurt so, so much.

"That was faster than my first few ones," Jack said right after. "Your gun's on the bed."

Ianto straightened slowly and looked around, lost. Jack was gone through the hatch and he frowned, lost. Had he upset Jack that much?

Was that how it felt to die and come back? It was awful.

Ianto eventually registered the constant alarm in the hub, indicating someone had escaped from the cells, and he got on his feet, almost falling as soon as he put weight on his legs. He took his gun and stumbled to the ladder, cursing Jack for having one. It always made it so much harder in mornings. Or middle of the nights. When he was finally in Jack's office, he felt a bit less like shit and could at least walk. The adrenaline rush that shot through his body when he heard Jack's yell enable him to run to the vaults. He saw Jack face down on the ground and the rush was already gone, and he felt so tired, and Jack seemed dead, as often, but Ianto knew this time Jack wouldn't be back. What had he done?

He heard footsteps, but didn't turn, didn't get up, he just stared at Jack and brought a shaking hand to his neck. Jack growled when Ianto touched him and slowly rolled on his side.

"Hey," he whispered and Ianto shook his head.

He briefly kissed Jack's forehead and got up to carefully make his way to the upper levels. He ran when he heard a breathe above and a slow pace. Apparently that species wasn't made for stairs. Ianto quickly caught up with it, trying to be quiet, but when he approached slowly, the alien swirled around and didn't leave Ianto the time to defend himself, stabbing his side instantly. Ianto still tried to raise his gun to the alien's head but it stabbed him again, in the arm, and Ianto let out a scream and dropped his weapon. He tried to punch the alien with his other hand but stumbled and instead leaned against a wall.

"You were so easy to manipulate," the alien laughed. "Good luck with living with this between you two."

It then turned and left, Ianto trying to follow but only falling to the ground. He heard a gunshot not long after, and rolled on his back to try and see what had happened. His vision blurred and he pressed his valid hand against the wound on his side.

"Ianto!"

Ianto blinked, until he realised that it was Owen sitting next to him.

"You're going to freeze to death," Owen grumbled and took his jacket off, helping Ianto on his feet and putting the jacket around his bare shoulders.

He then examined his wounds and thought Ianto could walk to his workstation.

"I'm okay," Ianto muttered weakly. "Jack..."

"... will be fine," Owen cut him. "It's you that I'm worried about."

"No... I'm-" Ianto didn't finish his sentence. How could he explain this?

He didn't have to, as pain shot through his body and he felt the open wounds closing slowly. Owen put him against a wall to see what was wrong with him, and frowned.

"Ianto... where's your injury?"

"... not here?"

"What the fuck did you do?" Owen snapped, his hand on Ianto's skin, where he should have still been bleeding.

"I... er..." Ianto said, trying to come up with a way to explain this. "Can we go check on Jack?"

Owen seemed to hesitate but nodded.

Jack was sitting against the wall when they joined him.

"Where is it?" He asked, a bit breathlessly.

"Dead," Owen answered, then crouched to check Jack's head. "Did it do something to inverse something so Ianto is now immortal and you not so much?" He asked Jack.

Ianto and he exchanged a look, Ianto quickly looking away.

"Something like that," Jack muttered. "It's only temporary, however."

Ianto's head snapped up.

"Go home," Jack continued, ignoring Ianto. "Come back for mid-day, have a proper sleep before. We'll deal with everything."

"But-"

"That's an order," Jack snapped.

Ianto watched as Owen was about to answer, but said nothing and turned, along with Tosh who had joined them in the mean time. Her PDA had gone crazy when the alien had left the cells, and she had called Owen because he lived only minutes away from the hub.

Ianto left the room too. He took care of the alien body, and especially of the black blood on the floor. He cleaned everything up, not knowing what to do. Jack clearly was against what Ianto had done, but he seemed to know more. He had said Ianto's condition was temporary. Had he only said that to calm Owen, or because he had planed on reversing the situation himself? Or was the whole thing just a lie?

Ianto had been so stupid and unprofessional, it was so unlike him, and the worst thing was... he wasn't ashamed of it. He would do it everyday if Jack could live normally. But now, Jack knew. They would probably have to talk, at some point – the thing they avoided the most in their relationship.

Ianto sighed and decided to meet Jack. If they were about to argue, it was better to get on with it quickly. He walked to the main room, and to Jack's office, knocking softly on the door.

"Come," he heard Jack said, his voice muffled by something.

When Ianto entered, he didn't see Jack, and moved silently to Jack's room. Jack was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, and he looked up, gesturing at Ianto to wait a minute. Ianto stood in front of the bed and looked around. The artefact he had used wasn't there any more, and Ianto unconsciously brought his hand to his side, checking where he should be wounded, and noticing he hadn't even put a shirt on since he had left Jack's bedroom – and given Owen his jacket back.

Jack came out the bathroom and Ianto shuddered. He realised he was exhausted and certainly not up for a fight with Jack. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Jack, I-"

He was interrupted by lips kissing him. He opened his eyes, trying to catch Jack's stare, but Jack kept his eyes closed, not looking at him. Out of habit, Ianto responded, closing his eyes again and willingly opening his mouth to Jack's tongue. He tasted mint from Jack's toothbrush, and moaned at how passionate and desperate the kiss was, taking a step back at the same time Jack gently pushed him. They collapsed on the bed, not breaking the kiss, fumbling to undress themselves from the little clothes they had.

"Make me feel it," Jack whispered against Ianto's ear, biting his earlobe.

Ianto froze at the words but growled at the sudden pain, rolling them over and nodding eagerly in Jack's neck before kissing him again.

Ianto knew he should stop this, that they had to talk, but Jack didn't seem willing to talk right now, and, honestly, Ianto hoped it would go better in the morning.