So here it is: the last part! Hope it isn't too mushy :)
It was turning to night when they finally arrived to Cardiff. Ianto had insisted to drive Johnny's car home even when Jack had suggested that they'd take the train. The whole ride was made in silence. Jack had sat at the passenger's seat, staring out of the window, without really seeing anything. Alice had stayed behind to London. She wanted to be part of the planning to get Steven's body back to Cardiff.
Ianto parked in front of Rhiannon's house. He had talked with Gwen before they had left and told her everything that had happened.
"We're here." He said silently to Jack who just nodded. Ianto couldn't even imagine what he was going through. Gwen and Rhiannon ran from the house to the dark yard when they got up from the car. Gwen was the first to reach Ianto and she hugged him tightly.
"I thought we lost you!" She cried to his shoulder.
"No such luck." Ianto joked but his face fell when Gwen hit him on his chest.
"Idiot." She mumbled before kissing his cheek and going to Jack.
Rhiannon pulled Ianto to an awkward hug after Gwen. Ianto wasn't used to his sister hugging him, but slowly relaxed and hugged her back.
"I really thought that I lost you, you daft sod." She rambled as she pulled away from the hug.
"You scared the shit out of us!" Johnny's voice came behind Rhiannon and he gave Ianto a massive bear hug.
"Yeah, sorry." Ianto mumbled as he quickly packed away from him, straightening his suit.
"Good to see you, mate." Rhys came then and patted his shoulder.
"I put the kids to sleep after telling them that you were alright." Rhiannon said to Ianto and pointed towards the upstairs windows. "You really okay?"
"Yeah." Ianto smiled at her. "I'll explain everything to you later, okay?"
She didn't seem happy about that but nodded in agreement. They both turned to look at Jack who was smiling to Gwen, pretending to be alright even after he had just lost his grandson. Gwen fussed over him for a while before they turned towards the crowd.
"Oh, you must be Jack." Rhiannon was first to go to him and shook his hand. "I've heard lots about you."
Ianto blushed and rolled his eyes to her.
"Good things I hope." Jack said with tired voice and a fake smile.
"I'm so sorry for your loss." She then added and Jack nodded at her.
"We really should get going." Ianto said after everyone had said their condolences to Jack.
They dropped Gwen and Rhys home before going to Ianto's house. For a while they just sat there, in the car, without saying a word.
"Jack." Ianto finally broke the silence, wanting the older man to look at him.
Jack lifted his gaze from his hands to Ianto who gave him a tiny smile.
"Let's go home." Ianto then said and Jack smiled, a very tiny but genuine smile, in agreement.
When they lay together at Ianto's… their, dark bedroom, all the exhaustion from the previous days came washing over them. Ianto's flat had been a disaster; all his stuff had been thrown around, even the bed had been ripped from its duvets. But Ianto didn't have the energy to clean everything up; it had taken all of his energy just to put the new sheets on while Jack was in the shower. After Ianto had taken his long needed shower and crawled into bed, Jack had pulled him as close as possible and placed his head on to Ianto's chest. It was still tender to touch but Ianto didn't complain. Jack had listen Ianto's steady heartbeat and felt the rise and fall of his chest. It brought him comfort and assurance that Ianto was still there. No matter what had happened. Ianto was still there.
Six months later:
Jack leaned on the railing of the plass. There was hardly any sign of the explosion but he knew that under the ground there were dozens of people bustling around, building the hub back to its former glory.
"You okay?" Ianto asked next to him. Jack turned to look at him and smiled.
"Yeah, it's good to know that the hub's getting ready faster than I expected." Jack felt his life coming back together, peace by peace. Steven's funeral had been the most awful ceremony Jack had ever been in, but he had managed with Ianto and Gwen by his side.
"Yeah, the queen has an odd power to get construction workers stay on schedule." Ianto joked and Jack laughed to him. It felt good to hear Jack laugh again, Ianto thought.
"Here you go!" Gwen chirped as she came between them with three take away cups from Starbuck's. "Two black coffees for you and tea with milk to me." She said as she handed over the cups.
"Are you sure you can do such a dangerous job at your condition?" Jack grinned at her and Gwen laughed.
"Think about it: the coffee might fall on your lap." Ianto said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up you two. Rhys's only being cautious, no need to mock him." Gwen scolded them. She sighed in happiness when she sipped her tea and listened Jack's and Ianto's conversation with each other. She was glad that her boys were slowly getting back to normal. That all their lives were getting back to normal, although the coffee was still from Starbuck's.
"How did the visit to Rhiannon's go?" Gwen then asked and examined their reactions closely.
Ianto blushed bright red and Jack tried not to smile.
"I take it went well." Gwen quickly said.
"Yes, absolutely." Ianto mumbled and took a long gulp from his coffee even though it was still way too hot to drink.
"There's just one thing I don't understand." Gwen continued and Jack turned to look at her. "How did Ianto came back to life." She looked back and forth between the two.
Jack and Ianto had been avoiding the subject as well. They were sure that neither of them knew the answer to that, so they hadn't talked about it. Rhiannon had thought that Gwen had just misunderstood Ianto being dead and that she never had actually seen his corpse.
"We don't know." Jack finally answered, not knowing what to make out of Ianto's resurrections. "Wait, can you hear that?" Jack suddenly asked.
Both Ianto and Gwen looked at each other.
"No… what…?" Jack silenced Ianto with a hush.
"That's got to be." Jack grinned, jumped over the railing and started to run towards the newly build water tower.
Only then Ianto and Gwen made out a distant whooshing noise. Quickly they drank the last of their drinks and ran after Jack or in Gwen's case wobbled.
The Tardis stood on its regular place next to the water tower. Jack stopped in front of it and waited for the Doctor to come out. He heard footsteps stop behind him and felt Ianto's calm presence. Jack glanced at him and Ianto looked back at him. Gwen was still far away but walked as fast she could with Rhys behind her with take away bags of Chinese in both hands, looking worried.
Jack turned around when he heard the familiar creak from the police box's door. The Doctor stood there with a wide smile on his face.
"Hello, Jack. Good to see you." Doctor greeted him as he stepped outside the Tardis before turning towards Ianto. "You too, Ianto Jones."
"My pleasure." Ianto answered and bowed his head a little.
"Oh, and Gwen Cooper and let me guess: the father of the baby!" Doctor exclaimed when Gwen finally reached them.
"Who's this?" Gwen asked, looking wearily at the oddly behaving man.
"He's the Doctor." Jack answered.
"But… I remembered that you looked… different." She said with wide eyes.
"Regenerated, long story, but it's nice to meet you again." Doctor grinned and turned to look inside the Tardis from where Amy and Rory soon appeared.
Amy looked a little teary and immediately went to hug Jack who looked a little surprised.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed against his shoulder. It had been only few minutes ago when the Doctor had told them that Jack's grandson died to save the other children. Rory said his condolences too.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save him." The Doctor apologized again. "It was something that had to happen."
Jack just nodded. He understood Doctor but he could never forgive him for not saving Steven.
"You must be Ianto." Amy's sad face turned to smile when she saw the suited man next to Jack. "I've heard so much about you."
"Um… Yes, I am." Ianto said and shook her hand, a little stunned that she knew his name when he had never met her before.
"And here's Gwen Cooper and her husband." The Doctor waved towards the couple.
"Rhys." Rhys said loudly and everyone turned to look at him. "It's Rhys… Rhys Williams." He continued, annoyed that the weird man didn't even ask his name.
"Of course, Rhys Williams!" The Doctor stated to Amy and Rory. "Now that you all know each other, I think it's time for my explanation part."
The Doctor then turned towards Ianto, who immediately felt like he wanted to disappear, uncomfortable about the attention.
"You must've been thinking why you're still alive?"
"Actually no, I tend to come back to life all the time." Ianto said sarcastically but when the Doctor didn't seem to get it he continued: "…yes, I've been wondering."
"Okay." The Doctor smiled and clapped his hands together. "Well, it's quite simple: when you've been living under the rift for almost your whole life and when you're… connected to Jack, you can come back from death."
There was a silence.
"How… exactly?" Ianto frowned. According to that theory everyone who had worked for Torchwood would've been immortals, including Tosh and Owen.
"Well, at first it was only a theory, but it turned out to be right. Jack kind of… accidently gives away his life energy." Doctor put his hands on his pockets and smiled to Jack who just stared back at him.
"That doesn't make any sense." Jack contradicted to Doctor. "I can always tell when I give my life energy to someone."
"Yes, when you're totally… aware of your surroundings." Doctor agreed to him.
"What? So I somehow transfer the energy when I'm sleeping or something?" Jack tried to understand the vague explanation.
"No, no… you do that when you two…" The Doctor pointed between Jack and Ianto. "…are together. Doing… what couples do."
Ianto pondered Doctor's words for a while. "So every time we have sex, Jack… accidently makes me immortal?" He summed it up carefully.
"Yes…" Doctor simply stated. "Although the effect of the… that… is only temporal, so if you don't… um… do it… for a long time and you happen to die, then you probably don't have the energy to recover."
Gwen, Amy and Rory all started to laugh to the Doctors rubbish attempt to explain sex's effect on the two men. Jack just stared at the Doctor with a blank expression. Ianto glanced at the captain, wanting to know what the immortal was thinking.
"But why me?" Ianto then asked, still not quite sure how only him of all Jack's previous sex partners was the one to come back to life.
"I don't know for sure but I think that Jack does that to everyone. Not necessarily quite as powerfully as to you." The Doctor tried to explain but Ianto looked a little lost. "Jack's feeling for you must be quite strong so he gives away his life energy to you in much bigger scale than to others, or that's what I think."
"Have I been aging normally?" Ianto had been with Jack only for a few years so he hadn't really had as much time to notice if he was getting older or not.
"I don't think so, but only time will tell." The Doctor turned to look at Jack, waiting for the immortal to say something, but when he didn't Doctor turned towards the Tardis. "Free tour for everyone!"
Amy and Rory followed Doctor inside. "We can't possibly fit in there." Rhys argued when Gwen dragged him inside from his arm. "I've always wanted to see this!" She said, exited like a little kid.
When Ianto stepped towards the Tardis, Jack took hold of his arm, stopping him.
"I'm sorry." Jack whispered. He looked like the world had just ended.
Ianto frowned at him. "For what?"
"Bloody hell!" Rhys's voice came from inside the Tardis.
"It's bigger from the inside!" Gwen was the next to speak.
"I… I didn't know. I would never wish this on anyone." Jack looked pass Ianto with sad eyes. "…least on you." He then fixed his gaze to Ianto's, fearing that the younger man would avert his gaze.
"It's not like you did that on purpose." Ianto gave him a tiny smile. He wasn't sure why he talked at past tense. "Besides… If the affection doesn't last very long, then you can always… let me go."
Ianto hadn't meant it to come out as a challenge but it slipped from his tongue before he could think it through. Jack had that affection on him sometimes. For a second Ianto was sure Jack would turn him down, saying that it would be better that way.
Jack just stared at Ianto, searching his face for something, before opening his mouth: "I'm afraid I can't…"
Ianto felt his heart skip a beat and before he knew it, he was kissing Jack passionately. Jack took hold of his neck, deepening the kiss.
"Oi! You two!"
They parted to look at the Tardis. Gwen stood by the door with a wide smile on her face.
"Come inside! The Doctor said he would take us to a ride. I can't believe I'm going to travel on a time machine!" She retreated inside.
Jack and Ianto looked at each other and smiled at the same time.
"If you please, Mr. Jones…" Jack said with a glimmer in his eyes and offered his hand to Ianto. "…I would like to show you the stars."
"Gladly." Ianto said and took his hand, letting Jack guide him inside the Tardis.
It was dark when the group stepped outside the Tardis. Ianto felt steel under his shoes and when he looked ahead he saw that they were on some kind of large platform which seemed to go on forever. But it was only when he looked up that his mouth opened to a silent gasp. There was only space above them with stars shining brightly and he was sure that he saw one planet too.
"We are really in outer space…" Gwen whispered in wonder. Rhys whistled and laughed beside her.
"Amazing! Banana boat would never believe this!" He said as he wrapped his arm around his wife.
"We're aboard of the Panonpoe, right?" Jack asked from the Doctor who nodded at him.
"What's that?" Ianto asked, not taking his eyes away from the stars.
"It's the universe's biggest crusader ship." The Doctor answered. "We are standing on its deck. There's a thin glass between us and the space, which doesn't give any reflections as you can see."
It had been only couple of days since Amy and Rory last saw the crusader but they were still as mesmerized about its beauty. Last time the deck had been crowded with aliens but now there were only few other living creatures on the other side of the deck. Suddenly they could hear a silent music playing around them.
"Oh! It's the midnight dance!" Doctor said in delight. "That's why there so few beings in here. Believe it or not but not many aliens like to dance. Expect for me, I love it! Well, with certain creatures… The crusaders invented the midnight dance just for humans."
"Can I have this dance?" Rory bowed to Amy who smiled and they retreated a little farther away to dance.
Rhys and Gwen joined them soon after. "We never dance anymore." Gwen complained as they started to sway under the starlight.
"Whose fault is that?" Rhys joked to her but Gwen frowned at him.
"Shut it. Let's just enjoy it while we can." She kissed him and they leaned as close as her growing belly let them.
Ianto looked at them with a smile on his face. It was peaceful and so not what he had expected the space to be. The rift had always spitted the most disgusting things that the universe had to offer on them so he really hadn't been able to see what was out there even when Jack had told him all those wonderful stories about it.
"May I have this dance?"
Ianto turned around to look at Jack who had opened his arms for invitation. He smiled shyly before giving him a tiny nod and walking to Jack's embrace. The Doctor leaned against the Tardis and watched the three couples dance. A ghost of smile lingered on his face as his mind took him back to the time when he had last danced.
"This takes me back." Jack whispered to Ianto's ear, reminiscing as well.
"Where?" Ianto asked, sure that Jack was going to tell about one of his travels years back.
"To Gwen's wedding." Jack answered, surprising Ianto. "You were so nervous." He then laughed.
"I was not." Ianto argued against him.
"Don't even try. I saw you take some liquid courage before you came ask me to dance." Jack teased him.
Ianto blushed and tried to hide his embarrassment to Jack's shoulder. For a moment they both pretended to be a normal couple below the starlight sky.
They stayed aboard the crusader through the night before returning to Earth, for the team's disappointment a week later than they had left. Gwen was pissed off about it for days because her due date had been delayed by a whole week.