A/N I feel so empty now. In a matter of minutes you will know... almost everything. And it was so fun teasing you. Now it's all over! Well, we have a couple more chapters to go, you don't know everything, but... Yeah, well, enjoy it.

...Or How It All Begun

They stared at each other, wordlessly, faces blank as they waited for the other to crack.

"Jack?" Ianto finally tried slowly.

"Yes, love?" the other replied, as calmly.

"There is a ghost... in our kitchen."

"I can see that, my dear."

Another minute passed in stillness. The men shared another empty look, before they both exclaimed in one voice, "What the bloody hell?"

Jack rushed toward his phone, which proved to be quite the challenge, considering it was in his pants, and that part of his clothing he hadn't seen since last night, Ianto trailing behind him, nagging,

"This is all Torchwood, isn't it? What did you do, Jack?"

"Nothing!... I think." The immortal's head shot up, from where he had bent it over his pants, that he had finally found behind the sofa. After a few seconds of contemplation, he shook it decisively. "Nah, that could have blown the Sun."

Ianto's eyes widened, before he shook his head in exasperation and just a tad fondness.

"So what is this then?"

"I have no idea. But I'll find out very soon." He finally fished his phone out of his pockets and fingers dancing over the buttons, he headed for the kitchen again. But not before planting a kiss on his lover's nose and whispering, "Don't worry, Yan."

Ianto huffed, arms crossing in front of his chest, but he didn't argue. Jack would take care of this, like he always did. He didn't have to worry, not with a man like that by his side. His arms fell on his sides and another sigh passed his lips as he decided to clean up. He felt stupid, like a bloody housewife but there was no way he could help. This alien thing was entirely Jack's business, he could only be there morally- not something that mattered. In most cases, actually, he would be in the way.

A scream from the kitchen made him drop everything and run. And it took all of his self-control not to yelp himself at the sight that greeted him in the room.

There was no longer a ghost there and he had to be grateful, yes, sure, but something else had taken its place. A metal man was standing, so much resembling a robot, yet the Welshman had never seen something like that.

"J...ack," he stuttered and the man in question tensed.

"For god's sake, Yan, get back in the living room," Jack yelled, without even looking at him.

"But what is that?!" If he was thinking clearly, he would have already run away, dragging his lover with him, but he couldn't- his mind too paralyzed with shock.

"Cyberman! Yan, please, listen to me, this is dangerous! You have to get out of here."

The Cyberman was already moving, little jerky moves of his hands and feet- and if it wasn't for the panic seeping from Jack's voice as he talked about it, Ianto would have found it funny- the way the machine was creeping towards them

"Captain... Jack... Harkness," it rasped out and its metal voice sent shivers down the Welshman's spine.

"W...what?"

"They have a collective consciousness- what one of them knows, they all do. And I fought one. Long ago."

Jack shook his head slightly, finally turning around to face his lover. His eyes were wild, pupils dilated, sweat marring his forehead and he was shaking all over.

"They know, about my immortality. They know. So... go, they are more interested in me. They won't pay you any mind."

"Go where? Without you?" Ianto was trembling too, but the mere thought of leaving his Jack in the hands of those things made his stomach turn.

He almost blacked out when seconds later his thoughts turned from metaphorical to the bare truth. While they had been talking, the Cyberman had slowly made its way toward them and now its silver hand was squeezing Jack's shoulder. Painfully, if the wince was an indicator.

"You will be upgraded."

"Go," the immortal grit through clenched teeth.

"You are insane! I'm not leaving you here. What are they going to do to you?"

"Turn me into one of them."

"And you are willing to do it just so I can have the chance to escape? You, you stupid, selfless, pra..."

He couldn't even complete his insult, the sound of the front door being kicked down drowning everything. Oh, it was personal now.

Jack winced, partly because of the tightening of the Cyberman's hold... but mostly because of the revelation that Ianto couldn't escape now.

"Captain Jack Harkness, you will be upgraded," was heard from the hall. The creatures approaching them were obviously farther down the recovery path than the one with them if they didn't have any problem with the long sentence.

The footsteps were coming closer, heavy and loud, but they had been mistaken- the Cybermen were still not fully recovered. They had a few more minutes, not that it changed their situation in any way.

Oblivious to its...brother's?... condition, the Cyberman who was with them removed its hand. And apparently Jack had been waiting just for that, he launched forward, arms wrapping around Ianto's torso. As if he would have tried to escape.

"I'm sorry, my love. I'm so so sorry," he uttered and then kissed him. The Welshman thought it was a goodbye kiss and his insides twisted with how desperate and needy it was. And in a way it was... their last kiss. But it had nothing to do with death, not really.

Later on, he understood Jack's apology, but it took him so long to accept it completely.

The kiss was broken far too soon for their liking, but it didn't matter- what Jack had attempted had already been done. The Cybermen, three, although they had sounded like a horde when they had been approaching, had finally managed to reach the kitchen. One of them gathered Ianto and threw him in the far corner, while the others circled his lover.

The Welshman groaned, feeling just dull pain where his head had collided with the wall, but nothing more. Somewhere deep inside he knew the hit should have killed him, the force with which he had been thrown had been too big. Fortunately, his whole being was too busy trembling from the memory of the tingling he had felt during the kiss to notice that strange fact.

The first scream reached his ears and made him shiver, hot tears burning his eyes. He couldn't help, that was the worst thing, what killed him slowly. He had to stand there and watch his Jack being turned into a cold-hearted machine. Had to listen to his screams of pain and in the rare moments when it was bearable enough for his lover to speak, the even more hurting words,

"It will be alright, Yan."

Even in moments like this the other man was thinking about him, it only managed to make his tears fall harder and the shivers, wrecking his body- stronger.

At some point a Cyberman headed his way and Ianto couldn't even muster the strength to tense. They could kill him, he couldn't care less, there was nothing that would hurt more than what he was forced to endure.

But with one word out of Jack's mouth, it stopped. The man was their future king, the one who would lead them to greatness, that would make them rulers of the universe. Of course it did.

Not sure if he had to be grateful for that, Ianto curled into a ball, trying to block the sounds as much as possible. Memories of their time together passed through his mind, the movies they had seen together, the lazy Sundays they had spent in bed, sharing body heat and soft kisses.

The happiness in those vibrant blue eyes as they stared at him, not so dull and empty as the Cyberman was cutting so clo... Ianto squeezed his eyes shut, frame rocking back and forth rapidly.

An eternity later, it was over. A Cyberman, bigger and brighter than the others was standing on his lover's place and Ianto bit back a whimper.

"All of you- out," it commanded and they followed the order immediately, slipping out of room, one by one. If Ianto didn't know any better, he would have said there was glee in their eyes.

As soon as they were out, the Cyberman was on him. Ianto found it so hard not to flinch back and a sound resembling a sigh left the machine's mouth.

"It's still me, love," it whispered, words spoken as gently as it was possible in its metal voice.

"I'm sorry for what I did. For cursing you like this."

The Welshman just shook his head, he was beginning to understand what had happened and even though his stomach turned by the mere idea...

"It was the best you could do. Do they... know?" he questioned, voice barely above a whisper as his hands gathered cold metal and pressed it against his heated cheeks.

"Not yet. But I can't block them forever. Sooner or later, they will find out and the process... it can be reversed. It will kill you, not that they will care. Not that... Iwill care. And I can't give them that, Yan, a Cyberman that will never die. So please just kill me. You have to."

Ianto's heart was thumping against his skull, he wanted to throw up... he nodded. The man had done so much for him, had been so strong, protecting him, thinking about him in his weakest moment. And it was his turn, now.

"How?" he asked quietly.

"Gold. You need gold."

The Welshman needed a few seconds to gather his mind and when he did, his hands curled tighter around already warm metal and, placing a chaste kiss on an unfeeling mouth, stood up.

His legs almost gave out but he regained his balance almost immediately. He was not a housewife, he was not useless. He was going to help, even if it killed him.

And apparently he was damn lucky, as well. The bedroom, where he had hidden something... golden... was just across the hall and the machines, bless their empty heads, had decided to wait outside. He sneaked inside, heart hammering so loud he was afraid someone would hear him, and walked the oh-so-familiar path toward his socks drawer.

He found it for seconds, he had done this every day for months now. He knew, cliche, stupid, it was the main reason why Jack still hadn't found it. Ianto curled his fingers around it, it felt so big now, so heavy. As if burning his skin.

A ring that would have joined them for life- Ianto's life, now instead would separate them for an eternity. How ironic was that?

Besides, now eternity had an entirely different meaning.

"So, that's what you have been hiding there? I thought you were far more obsessed with your socks than usual!" someone said from behind him and the Welshman tensed. His body first registered the voice and then the words behind it. When everything shifted in one place, he turned around, teeth sinking into his lower lip.

"I..."

"Don't," the Cybe... Jack cut him off. Ianto would have given his everything to be able to stare at the handsome face that he knew so well and the little, sad smile he was sure it would have been marring it, instead of this blank metal. "It's the best you can do."

They stared at each other for a while, so much things that they could say passing through their minds yet nothing pass their lips. But they didn't have time to waste, they both knew that.

Ianto took a couple of steps forward, slower than he had intended. He used the time to picture his Jack, not that machine, standing before him. They were standing in a park, their favourite, near the statue of an angel and he had finally gathered his courage. He fell on one knee and asked around his smile,

"Jack Harkness, will you marry me?"

Jack nodded, words failing him, but his eyes were sparkling and that was enough. He extended his hand and the Welshman grasped it, it was colder than he had thought it would be. But delving on that thought would have ruined it so he didn't, he just slipped the ring where it belonged and... and the whole ground started shaking.

His lover fell down, right beside him, yet it was no longer his lover but a machine. A gasping for life machine that was his Jack, that curled heavy metal arms around him. His Jack.

"I'll make sure they don't bother anyone again. Just... let me go. When the time comes... You are so much better than this, my love. You deserved more. I lov..."

It was all the other man, yes, he was a man, not a bloody machine, could say before something happened. As if someone had pressed the off button on a computer, he just... stopped. And Ianto knew he would never go again.

He would never smile, he would never laugh. He would never tell him he loved him again.

When the buzzing sound started, seconds after his love had left him, he knew what he had to do. He had time to let Jack go. If he wanted to.

Instead, he just curled closer in his embrace and waited.

He waited for so long.