Gwen's a psychotic b*tch! She's so crazy... it's scary... AND SHE DOES THE UNFORGIVABLE! CHANT WITH ME! "We hate Gwen. We hate Gwen..."

Chapter 10: Gwen's Betrayal

As soon as he emerged into his office, Gwen threw herself at him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. Jack instinctively supported her, but looked rather startled and a bit uncomfortable. "Uh... Gwen?" He asked, trying to set her down. She was having none of it and clung on tighter. "Gwen! Let go!" The Welshwoman pouted but obliged, sliding down to set her feet on the floor. She fluttered her eyelashes at Jack in what she thought was a seductive manner. The Captain blinked. "Can I help you?"

Ianto waited down below, but could see through the hole that Gwen had thrown herself around Jack. She even smirked at Ianto through the hole, which made him angry, and he knew that Jack would feel that anger from him. Get off my man bitch, he said through their link so Gwen wouldn't hear it, because he was too much of a gentlemen to say it to her out loud, but it didn't stop him from thinking it. Oh no.

Jack sent amusement at Ianto's comment and irritation at Gwen back to him. I think I'll need a little help here Yan. He'd brushed across the Welshwoman's mind when she'd thrown herself at him and what he'd found had worried him deeply. It seemed that his memory block had disintegrated and taken Gwen's mind with it. Shit. He briefly showed Ianto what he'd found. I'm going to need you on this one. Really.

Ianto sighed and came up the ladder, seeing Gwen practically all over Jack. "Gwen, what are you doing?" he asked her, clearly annoyed. He wasn't sure what Gwen was going to do to him, but hopefully not much with Jack in the room.

The Welshwoman spun on her countryman suddenly and hissed, "Mine!" She wrapped a possessive hand around Jack's forearm. The Captain widened his eyes and sent a pleading look Ianto's way, trying to tug out of her grip.

Ianto stepped forwards and covered Gwen's hand with his, using a thumb hold to take her hand away easily. "Actually Gwen, he's with me. We're married, in-case you've forgotten. You have Rhys and your daughter." His voice was calm, but low and dangerous.

"No, no, no..." Gwen shook her head wildly, a panicky glint in her eyes, stepping away from the Welshman. "No you... no he's mine! Mine! Rhys... no... Rhys doesn't... he's not... he's not right!" She was blabbering away, not making much sense.

"Gwen listen to yourself." Ianto said calmly. "You love Rhys, you married Rhys. You have a family with him. Jack has never been yours and never will." He took a step away from Jack in-case Gwen decided to lunge at him, which she did. Only she didn't grab for him, she shoved him... hard. Unprepared, he went backwards, and fell. Fell down the hole in the floor, snapping his neck as he hit the bottom and lay there lifeless.

"Ianto!" Jack screamed, the sound echoing with so much more pain, loss and anguish than one human being should be able to convey. Owen burst into the office at the heartrending cry. He and Tosh had been hovering nearby, ready to offer support if need be. Gwen had frozen, momentarily back to herself, horrified at what she had done. She turned to run and was caught by Owen, who held her fast despite her struggles. "Sedate her," Jack ordered, eyes dead. Even though, intellectually, he knew Ianto wasn't dead... well, at least not permanently, Jack wasn't thinking too clearly right now.

With that, he practically fell down the ladder to cradle the lifeless body of his Welshman in his arms. "Yan..." He choked out, clutching the body to his chest. He was so overwrought that he couldn't even cry, merely stared down into the slack face, soul deep pain radiating out from him in waves.

It was a few minutes before Ianto came back to life. It took longer as it was his first time, and the first thing he felt when he came too was pain, all-consuming pain. He gasped air into his dead lungs then screamed and screamed, pain blotting out his senses.

The Captain pulled him tighter, clutching at him desperately. "Yan... Yan... shh... I'm here... shhh..." His voice was hoarse. One hand cupped Ianto's cheek, forcing him to look at him. Blue eyes stared down into blue. "Yan... I'm here, I'm here..."

Ianto clung to Jack shaking violently, his voice becoming hoarse from the screaming. The pain radiated out through their bond, as did Ianto's attempts to ground himself. J...Jack...

Jack managed to block the worst of the effects of the pain from his end, enough so that he could still think and did the only thing he could think of. A heavy, comforting weight of weariness rolled down the bond as clearly, reassurance was not helping. "Sleep Yan..." He croaked softly. "Sleep." Jack hoped it would work.

Ianto tried to fight against it. He didn't want to go back into the blackness, there was pain when he came back. He clung to Jack desperately, both physically and through their bond, the pain ebbing, just phantom pain, his screams stopping but his body still wracked with convulsions. How did Jack bear this?

Jack rocked him gently, crooning soothingly to the clearly terrified man in his arms. "Yan, Yan it's fine. You're okay, I'm here..." He was blathering nonsense towards the end but hoped the sound of his voice would help. "Please Yan, calm down. I'm here. You're alright. I promise. Everything's fine. I know it hurts, I know... oh I know..." Jack's voice broke but he did the best to keep the tears that were rolling down his face from dripping on the Welshman. Stupid as it sounded, he didn't want Ianto to know he was crying.

Ianto turned into Jack more, seeking comfort. The pain was ebbing as fast as it had hit him now, and he was slowly regaining control over his body, the convulsions subsiding into minor trembles. Finally he pulled away from Jack, just a little and looked at him. "Jack?" He asked, the single word conveying so many questions. 'What happened, is it always like this, how do you cope?' and so many more that he just couldn't voice.

Upstairs Owen and Tosh had thrown Gwen into one of the cells, and Gwen was still a bit loopy from the sedative, but it had brought her back to herself more. She was horrified at what she had done, not knowing that Ianto was immortal like Jack now. She heard the agonised screams of pain, and assumed it was Jack screaming from the loss of Ianto. My god, what had she done?

The Captain ran his fingers through the younger man's hair comfortingly. He knew from his own experiences that upon gasping back to life one craved physical contact, just to reaffirm that yes, they were actually alive. His arms tightened around Ianto and he pressed a tender kiss to his forehead. At the questions implicit in that single word he stilled, contemplating. "It was an accident and... yes." He answered honestly, believing that Gwen hadn't meant to hurt him. And yes, it was always like that. The last question threw him and he dithered, considering how to answer. But... this was Ianto. If he had been someone... anyone else, Jack would have avoided the question with a flippant retort but...

"Sometimes, I can't." He whispered finally, raw pain in his voice. "Sometimes it's all too much and the only thing I can think of is to end it all. I've tried everything... nothing sticks. Hell, I even got blown up and that failed to put a stop to it..." He sighed and gathered Ianto closer. "But one thing does make it better. You know what that is? You, Jones, Ianto Jones. From the first moment I met you... well..." Jack shrugged, looking away. "Remember when we captured Myfanwy?" He asked, the question seemingly out of the blue. "When we were rolling around that warehouse floor the only thing I could think of was how much you intrigued me. Your tenacity at continuing to plague me had me annoyed and far more interested than I was willing to admit, by turns. And then... somehow, some-when, you became essential to my... to me. I told you a bit about The Year That Never Was didn't I?" Jack's voice had become quieter and quieter as he kept talking, not pausing for a response to his questions. They were rhetorical anyway. "The one thing that kept me fighting was the thought of you Ianto. Every time I gasped back to life after whatever torture the Master had devised that time, I thought of you. You kept me strong Ianto Jones. You kept me sane." Once Jack had started talking, it was like he couldn't stop.

At Jack's touches and voice Ianto soon relaxed and the trembling stopped. He held Jack tightly though, sensing that Jack needed comforting as much as he did right now. This was why he had made himself a promise to try and be there for Jack every time he came back to life. He had known that Jack needed him there as an anchor, and now Ianto would need him too. He thought to himself bitterly, that he'd managed his entire life not to get killed. Came close, but never actually died, then he's immortal one day and he's died already.

Jack was still talking. It was as if everything he'd never said was pouring out of him at once. "On... on the Valiant..." He paused, swallowing hard. Even after several years, the memories were still painful. "The Master, captured you and Tosh and Owen and Gwen... He found the base..." Jack shuddered. "He killed Owen and Tosh in the fight to take it. Gwen got out and ran, tried to warn people... but he caught up with her and had her publicly executed as a traitor. You... you however... he brought aboard..." Jack's voice caught in his throat. "He tortured you in front of me Yan. Brought you to the brink of death so many times... And then... he killed you... blew out your brain..." A hollow laugh scraped it's way out of the Captain's throat. "Your blood spattered across me face... I could taste it... and my only thought was relief. Relief that he couldn't hurt you anymore... that, perverse as it was, you were beyond his reach for good. And from that moment on, every time he came... Every death... I wanted it to stick more than I ever had before. I needed to die, because that was the only way I would be able to see you..." Tears were pouring down his face, faster and faster. "But it never worked. I was dragged back, kicking and screaming..." Jack buried his face into Ianto's neck and sobbed.

Ianto sat up a little and held Jack, turning from being comforted to comforting Jack, or each comforting the other. "It's ok Jack. He lost, and I'm still here." It didn't make whatever happened any less real, it was real, but it was a paradox, and one that couldn't be changed. "I'm here, with you and I always will be." He leaned over and kissed Jack, pushing his very soul against Jack's, a reminder that he wouldn't lose him ever.

I love you. Was whispered through the younger man's mind as Jack's lips were busy elsewhere. He kissed his lover back heatedly, twining their tongues together as he reaffirmed for both of them that Ianto Jones was alive and there. That he was real. Jack clung to Ianto as much as Ianto was clinging to him.

Golden light spilled up out of the hole in the ground, almost blinding the onlookers. Tosh and Owen had come back after dumping Gwen in the cells. "Um... Jack?" Tosh called down timidly. "Could you maybe... dispense with the glowing?"

I love you so much cariad, he whispered back as he kissed Jack, pouring his heart and soul into that kiss. He was alive, he was real and he was not going anywhere. Hands wandered and clutched at his lovers back, trying to keep him as close as possible. The bond between them welled up and spilled out, filling the room with golden light, warmth and love, surrounding the two lovers.

Owen was less subtle. "Oi Harkness!" He hollered, shielding his eyes with his hands. "Cut the blinding light mate!" As if he'd heard them (but quite possibly not) the light snapped out of existence. Wow, didn't know that would happen. There was amusement in Jack's mental voice as he sent that privately to Ianto. Reluctantly, he parted from the younger man and held him tightly to his chest for a moment. "We should go try and sort this mess out." He sighed, not relishing the idea. He yelled up to Owen. "Stop whining Harper and go dissect something!" There was a giggle from Tosh.

Ianto chuckled. Me neither. If something like that were to have happened, he'd have expected it last night, but then maybe it was because he'd just died and comeback. Either way, they'd have to close the lid of the bolt hole, and probably get black out curtains at home, just in case. He clung to Jack briefly and nodded. "Hmm, I suppose we should. Be interesting to see the look on Gwen's face when she sees me though." he gave a quite evil chuckle at the thought. "Come on then." he stood up and offered Jack his hand.

Jack shook his head fondly at the younger man and pressed a kiss to the side of his head as he had gotten to his feet. "You go up first." He simply wanted to ogle Ianto's backside and knew the Welshman would pick up on that fairly quickly.

Ianto rolled his eyes, but kissed Jack and then left, making sure to stick his arse out further than necessary, pulling the trousers tight across it. He saw Owen and Tosh's surprised look but smiled. "I'm ok guys." he said, giving Tosh a hug, then waited for Jack to come up.

Jack popped up out of the hole fairly quickly, looking for all the world as if he just not been ogling a certain Welshman's backside. "Right." He started as he straightened up. "Let's go have a chat to Mrs Williams." His eyes flashed fire and his voice was icy.

Ianto nodded and let Jack lead the way. Luckily Jack still looked grief stricken having only just finished crying, which would work to their advantage. Ianto was going to stay out of sight for now.