Chapter Thirty-Six

I just want to say that I'm overwhelmed by the response to this fic! Thankyou so much, all of you – you're all stars and I love you to bits! :-D

Now onto the Janto fluff!

Disclaimer: Haven't we already been through all this? No? Well, I'd better explain now: I don't own Torchwood. I just like playing with the characters – it's such fun!

Ianto was bored. No, scrap that – he was so bored that even listening to Gwen talking about her honeymoon (in detail) would be a welcome distraction.

The door opened, and Jack walked in, Tesco bag in hand. "Hey there," he said with a gentle grin. "How're you doing?"

"Bored." Ianto stifled a yawn. "What've you got there?"

"Food!" Jack announced. "Bread rolls, ham, apples—"

"Please don't tell me you brought grapes," Ianto groaned.

Jack raised an eyebrow, sitting down on the chair next to Ianto's bed and dumping the plastic carrier bag. "What's wrong with grapes?"

"Nothing, other than the fact that's all everybody seems to bring." Ianto considered for a moment. "Other than the Doctor."

"Why, what did he bring?" Jack seemed amused.

"Bananas."

"How did I guess?" Jack chuckled.

"That man has got a worrying obsession with bananas," Ianto told him seriously. "If it was anybody else, I'd suggest counselling."

Jack just laughed again. Ianto smiled to hear him laughing; there had been far too little of that recently.

"But, really, how are you?" Jack asked him soberly, once he had finished laughing.

Ianto looked away. "Fine." He fingered the blanket draped across his lap. "When can I leave?"

Jack's face tightened. "Not for a while yet," he replied. "In the meantime, can I tempt you with some of this delicious food?"

"Not hungry."

Jack shrugged and bit into an apple. "You sure? You haven't eaten today."

"I'm fine."

Jack paused in the middle of taking a bite, sticky juice dribbling down his chin. "Ianto…" he sighed.

Ianto looked away. "Really, Jack. I just hate being stuck here."

Jack put down the apple on the bedside table and wiped his chin. He opened his arms invitingly. "C'mere."

"Am I allowed…?"

"Sure. Just this once won't hurt you." Jack smiled as Ianto pushed back the covers and slipped from the hospital bed. He felt a slight pang as he noted how the gown hung from Ianto's slight frame, his wrists thin and the bags under his eyes bestowing on him a similarity to a panda.

Ianto settled onto his lap with a happy sigh, tucking his nose behind Jack's ear like he had taken to doing recently.

Jack tightened his arms around the younger Welshman, careful of his broken arm. He was unpleasantly surprised by the lightness of his lover. "Your sister called," he said.

Ianto tensed. "Oh?"

"She wants you to go back home and stay with her." Jack ran his fingers through Ianto's hair. It had been washed that morning and was still slightly damp, curls sticking to the back of his neck. "I said that I'd let you decide."

Ianto was quiet for a moment, before pulling back and looking Jack earnestly in the face. "What do you think?"

Jack blinked, taken aback. "It's your choice. She is your family – I won't be upset if you want to stay with her."

Ianto grinned. "Yes, you would be," he said, kissing Jack on the nose. "You'd sulk for days, because you don't like to even think of the possibility that your care might be anything other than exactly what I need."

And expression of concern crossed Jack's face. "It is what you need, right?" he asked anxiously. "I'm not doing anything wrong—"

Ianto silenced him with a finger pressed gently to his lips. "You're doing fine," he reassured him. "Really. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Jack looked slightly relieved. "That's good. But what do you want to do about your sister?"

"Rhiannon will want to mother me," Ianto said with his customary eyeroll, "and she'll try to stuff me with food."

Jack grinned. "So that's a no?"

Ianto looked away. "I… I don't want to stay here."

Jack swallowed. "Okay, then. So what are you suggesting?"

"I want to go home, Jack," Ianto said, hating the plaintive tone in his voice. "If I'm going to die again, I want to at least do it in my own bed."

"Don't speak like that," Jack said, stroking Ianto's cheek gently. "We'll find something."

"Don't make any promises you can't keep," Ianto retorted, turning over Jack's hand with his good arm, and kissing the palm. "I don't mind. Honestly."

"I do."

Ianto bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Jack said softly, eyes sad. "But I'll have to see about going home. We need to finish this mission first, deal with these aliens."

Ianto sat up a bit straighter. "How's that going?" he asked, his boredom morphing into a burning curiosity for any new news.

Jack shrugged. "Okay, I guess. It's taking a lot longer than we expected, as the signals keep on switching between two different locations."

"Why don't you check both of them?"

"Whoah, I never thought of that," Jack joked. "The problem is that both the sites are only reachable with a submarine or a professional diver."

"Neither of which we have," Ianto said.

"Nope."

Ianto sighed, his breath tickling the back of Jack's neck. "So there's nothing we can do."

"Hey – with a dashing hero like me on the case, how can we fail?" Jack teased, trying vainly to lighten the mood.

Ianto snorted. "You keep on telling yourself that," he replied.

"Are you being rude about me?"

"Of course not – why would I do that?" Ianto widened his eyes innocently.

"Cheek!" Jack laughed, twisting his head awkwardly to kiss him. Ianto's good hand came up to cradle Jack's face, and he sighed into the kiss.

They sat there like that for a few more minutes, lazily exchanging kisses and simply enjoying the other. Then Jack's mobile rang, buzzing in his pocket.

Ianto raised an eyebrow, to which Jack replied with a smirk before digging it out and answering, "Yeah?"

Ianto recognised the face Jack now wore; it was the 'Captain' face, the one he wore when he had to get down to business. He slid off Jack's lap and crawled back under the covers of the hospital bed. Jack stood up too, and absent-mindedly tucked Ianto in and dropped a kiss on his forehead before heading out the door, still talking earnestly on his phone.

The room was strangely hollow and empty after Jack left. It always was, whenever the captain had to go, leaving Ianto alone in the small white room.

Gwen had brought in some flowers the other day, a large and colourful bunch of tulips that sat on the table by Ianto's bed. The colour was a welcome change from the monotonous, clinical white of the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the pillows, the sheets…

Ianto sighed and flopped back onto the pillows. He stared up at the ceiling, mentally counting away the seconds until the nurses came in with his next meal.

His next meal. For all he knew, it could well be his last.

And then, lying in the hospital bed which would may turn out to be his death bed, Ianto Jones realised that his life was about to end. And, this time, it would be for good.

No lurkers, please! Any lurkers, please come out and make yourself known – virtual chocolate cake/virtual anything you want to all of you who review! ;-)

I'm going away tomorrow on the boat, so I won't be able to post anything until next Wednesday at the earliest (or reply to reviews, for that matter – sorry!) but I should, hopefully, still be writing whilst I'm away… -crosses fingers-