Title: Liquid Death
Author: caz251
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: Pg
Character/Pairing: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness, mentions of OFC!Sandra, Torchwood team, Ianto's family and Lisa Hallet.
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood.
Summary: Ianto life changed the day that he met up with a member of his old research team, just over a century and a half later his life will change again.
Warnings: character death
AN: Written for longliveianto bingo round 2 Prompt: drugs
AN2: Sequel to Liquid Life
Ianto had never ever believed that he would be someone reliant on drugs, on a substance of any sort. He had never thought that way of himself, he hadn't even dabbled when he was younger, but now he had changed. His life had changed when he started work for Torchwood, the projects he had worked on, the disasters that he had survived and the people he had met. Ianto had never thought that he would meet someone like Jack Harkness, he had never really believed in immortals, just like he had never believed that he would be reliant upon anything but coffee. When he had first met Jack he was so focused on helping Lisa that while he was startled by the man he didn't think much of it. Even when he was sleeping with the man to try and distract him, as a way of keeping him from finding out about Lisa, he had never thought much about the man himself. He had never imagined spending his life with the other man, and could not even think of the idea of the other man being immortal, not really, regardless of what he had read in the Torchwood files.
It wasn't until Jack's immortality was actually proved to him with the whole debacle with the rift that he actually believed it. Before, he had almost been certain that the title Captain Jack Harkness was just one that had been passed down and used by various Torchwood personnel over the years in an attempt to add to the myths of the Institute. It was not true though, the man really was immortal. When the other man had been dead for days and then disappeared with the Doctor Ianto had thought about what they had, it surely wasn't a relationship, they had started out as a means to an end, then it had transformed into something of a friendship with benefits. It wasn't a relationship though, or at least he hadn't thought that it was. He was proven wrong though when Jack returned, or rather that his ideas were transformed, just like their friendship. Jack had asked him out on a date, one that they did go out on, dinner and a movie and Jack had been nervous almost the whole night. That first date had been when everything had started to change, Ianto had begun to realise that he could maybe actually have a relationship with Jack; that they could make things work between them. They actually worked well as a couple when they weren't busy with work, Ianto wanting to try and keep both parts of their lives separate, or as separate as they possibly could.
Throughout everything though Ianto was aware that his life was not like Jack's he was finite while his lover was infinite, he would die and Jack would carry on. Even if he managed to escape death by Torchwood here was no chance that he would live a long life, not long in terms of Jack anyway. He would only manage less than a century with the other man before his human body would give up on him. He was shocked and surprised when he was contacted by a woman from his past, a researcher from the London branch of the institute wanting to pass on her lives work to him. He had suddenly inherited a bunch of bats, a robot and a tonne of paper files. A liquid, a liquid that would change his life, was Sandra's greatest legacy though, and Ianto had been taking the liquid every day since he was able to harvest the nests into liquid form.
Ianto had taken the liquid or serum everyday just like someone takes their daily medicine, and he was infinitely grateful for it. He had taken a back seat from field work when he was about sixty, preferring to let the younger and more agile members of the team take up those positions and focussed more on the archives and research. That isn't to say that he looked sixty, at that age he had looked no more than twenty-five years old. Now though he was so much older, not just in mind, but in body as well. He now looked around sixty, when in reality he had just celebrated his hundred and eightieth birthday.
Ianto was tired, both physically and mentally; he had no doubt that the liquid should not be consumed over such an extensive period of time. Sandra had only taken the liquid for around fifty years before she stopped, having no-one really left to share her time with. He had Jack though, but all his family were gone, Rhiannon and Johnny, even Micah and David were all dead. All that was left of his sister's legacy were a few great nieces and nephews that he had never really been close to. Ianto knew that it was time to stop his addiction, to cut his daily dose of medicine out of his life and life the rest of the time he had as he should be. He had no doubt that he would die shortly after stopping his intake, but he knew that his time was close, it was time to set both himself and Jack free. He knew that the other man loved him, they were married and had been for over a century, but he also knew that Jack needed more than him now. He wasn't as young as he used to be and he wanted his husband to experience life as fully as possible, something he couldn't do tied to him.
They had discussed what Ianto planned to do and Jack had tried to persuade him otherwise, but they both knew that Ianto was stubborn and Jack had surrendered the fight, knowing that he wouldn't win it. They just had to wait now for the perfect moment; Ianto had arranged everything and made sure that all his affairs were in order so that Jack didn't have to do much. The most heartbreaking thing out of the whole process had been Jack's face when Ianto started to try and store his belongings away like protocol dictated. That was when Jack had called a halt to things. Ianto may be Torchwood and there were protocols that went along with that, but so was Jack, and Ianto's belongings were his as well, there was no way that they were going to be locked away in a storage facility for the rest of days.
Ianto stopped taking the serum, but unlike Sandra who had three more years of life, did not make it more than three weeks. It was mostly due to the fact that he aged rapidly, a hundred and twenty years or so are a bit much to age in a matter of days, especially for a human being. Ianto's life itself probably added to the strain, after all he had never really had regular working hours or sleep patterns since he had left Torchwood London, even when he came out of the field in Cardiff he was still working eighteen hour days at times. Jack had been with him for nearly every minute of those three weeks, leaving the others in charge of the hub and the city, not willing to leave his partner's side. They had spent those three weeks reminiscing for the most part, talking about the best parts of their lives together and about all the people they had known that had brought them to where they were today. As Ianto had taken his last breath, a smile on his face as he thought about Tosh, Owen, Gwen, Rhiannon, Lisa and all the others he had loved who were now gone, Jack began to sob quietly.
A small voice breaking through the almost silent room, "Goodbye Master Ianto, I'll look after Master Jack for you." Dexxie the little robot that had been with them since Ianto had taken on the bats was at his feet, waiting for him to be ready to do what needed to be done. Dressing him in the outfit that Ianto had chosen for the occasion, Jack then placed him carefully in the drawer that Ianto had designated as his own, kissed his husband cold lips before closing the drawer. As he and Dexxie left the vaults his own whispered words of goodbye could be heard in the silence of the room.