A/N Hey, sorry for the delay. I just had a pretty important exam in English that fucked up my style so badly that I needed time to recover, otherwise I would have been here, talking about taxes and global warming in a language I'm sure nobody uses or needs. Anyway, what made me write was the comment I received that reminded me I should get going and finish the story, not tease you guys. However, is it really that mysterious? I mean, just look at Chapter 16, almost all answers are there. I'm either missing something or you all think this is more than it is (which was not something I should have said... apologies. Still, I have only two or three major things ((that I've been hinting about for chapters)) and the links between them to explain and that's it.)

Even If You Are Immortal Try Not To Die, Please

"I hope I'm not interrupting something"

Jack was on his feet in a matter of seconds, gun in his hand and a grim expression on his face. Dressed only in boxers, he looked more ridiculous than scary but Ianto knew better. He had seen that look before and could only wish that the new-comer would realize the gravity of the situation as well.

"What are you doing here?" Jack demanded through clenched teeth.

"So what? You can pay me and my Doctor a visit anytime you want but when I decide to come by it's at an inconvenient time?" The smile they received and the playful wink told Ianto that the Master hadn't got the message. The way Jack squeezed his gun told him the Timelord soon will.

"Don't play games, Master. What do you want?" he joined in.

The Master wrinkled his nose in his direction for just a second. It was more like a hint, a warning. More 'I know what you are and if you are not careful so will he' than the simple 'You smell like a paradox.

But just as it had appeared it was lost and a smile marred the Timelord's face. He tilted his head.

"Your help, of course. To get everything the way it used to be"

Jack snorted, the gun twitching slightly and Ianto followed it with a sinking heart."How can I trust you?"

"That's the fun part, you can't." The Master laughed as if it truly was funny. "But just imagine all the suffering you could prevent if you agreed and I was truthful. All the pain and death. I will be nobody again and your race will be free. Isn't that why you kidnapped the Doctor?"

Jack stared at him for the longest minute of Ianto's life before he nodded. Then he lowered the gun and a few seconds later it was back on top of the nightstand.

"Fine, what do you want me to do?"

"Oh, you seem to have misunderstood me, dear. I meant both of you." The Master stopped for a second, enjoying the fact that they were both too shocked to oppose him before delivering his final blow. "I want Ianto as well."

"NO!"

That was a scream and nobody could convince Ianto otherwise. It was something small, truly, of course Jack wouldn't want them both to engage in a dangerous activity such as placing trust in the Master. It would be pointless, they both knew that. Besides Ianto was second in command, to the great displeasure of certain members of their team, and for Torchwood to lose its both superiors... the damage would have been tremendous.

Still, it plucked at Ianto's heart strings how ready his lover was to fight with one of the most powerful creatures they had ever met over the Welshman's safety.

The Master, though, wasn't that impressed. Shaking his head, he clicked his tongue a few times, before smirking again.

"This is my insurance. Because I can't trust you either, now, can I?"

Jack, with his fingers curled into fists, seemed like he couldn't agree more. But before either of the men in front of him could do something that would eventually lead to the last hope for humanity perishing, Ianto was on his feet and curling around his lover like a vine.

"It's okay. I can come and stay out of trouble, eh?" he teased lightly, feeling instantly the immortal melt beside him.

He tried hard not to pay attention to the way the Master had taken an involuntary step backwards or the way his fingers had twitched towards the inside of his jacket, where the gun he no doubt had come with, laid, ready for use. Most of all, Ianto tried to ignore the way the Timelord's jaw had tensed almost as if he had to remind himself that he shouldn't shoot the Welshman on sight. It really hurt, though, maybe because that was exactly what the Master had done.

It was in the Master's blood, after all, having the desire to cleanse time and space. And in his eyes, Ianto was nothing more than a rotting patch of flesh in the fabric of the universe. Nothing that major, the existence of which causing maybe a little itching and discomfort. Nothing that would cause the end of the world... yet.

Ianto didn't blame him for wanting to get rid of a ticking time bomb. He would have too, if he knew how. And, god knew, he had tried.

He had been right- he didn't get to touch anything. It was all "Fetch me the screwdriver, boy", "Oi, don't touch that" and "Why don't you sit your fancy ass as far as possible." The Timelord reminded him an awful lot of Owen, and not the kind and cuddly thing he had become after Ianto's secret was revealed.

As he shared yet another exasperated glance with Jack while heading to the kitchen to follow the Master's insane wish, actually this time it was a bit more normal- brewing coffee, Ianto couldn't be more thankful to the mad alien.

There simply was no way he could explain why every time he approached the machine his lover and the Timelord were fixing he felt sick to his stomach or why in those exact moments he had seen sparks coming from the thing. It clearly hated him, thought he was an abomination; he was too much even for a paradox machine, how... paradoxical.

Of course, being what he was sort of did that to you.

At least the plan was simple, far more simple than the one Torchwood had come up with all those days ago. In order to do what he did, the Master had made the time machine into a paradox one, which was one of the simplest things to do, really, if you knew where to touch. This particular bit of information he had learnt from his Master, as he listened to his plans to conquer the Earth. It hadn't come as a shock that this Timelord had chosen exactly the other Master's favourite way.

The trouble came when one decided they wanted a time machine out of what they had right now. That took a bit more than a few twists of a screwdriver.

They were going to need ho...

"You'll have to tell him, some day."

..urs.

Ianto's bones cracked as he turned around swiftly, coffee splashing around the inside of the cups. Seconds later he knew he had done the wrong thing. He should have played it cool, should have acted innocent and innocent wasn't looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Tell who what?" he still tried but judging by the grin playing on far too thin lips, he had missed his chance. Not waiting for an answer, not really needing it, he headed for the door. He passed the Master, who never ceased to look at him, smirk at him, and for one glorious moment he thought he had made it.

"That you are immortal." The Master almost shouted it and Ianto twitched. Almost dropped the cups too, before he realized that if the screams didn't get Jacks attention then him falling to the ground with the tray and everything surely will. His lover had a selective hearing like that.

"Keep your voice down," Ianto hissed, turning on his heels and approaching the Master as fast as he could. If before it had been clear who had the advantage in their situation, now power was a relative term. "What do you propose I tell him, hm?"

The Master didn't take a step back, no matter how much Ianto abused his personal space but at least there was no trace of the smile.

"'Oh, hey, Jack, you know how you always assumed I was from this world. Well, yeah, guess again' Something like this?" He was acting so out of character, he knew that. He was and had always been the quiet coffee boy, the timid hero's lover that was good only at organizing stuff. The ordinary man with no secrets.

But that in itself was a lie, wasn't it.

The character he had developed, the one he was now contradicting, that wasn't the real him. Well, maybe it was the Ianto from this world, sweet little Ianto that didn't see the end of the world, that died thinking his beautiful girlfriend loved him. But not him.

"But you will die... someday. People do that, dear boy."

Ianto huffed and stepped away. "Then I'll try not to die."

It sounded so easy. Try not to die, try not to let him see the freak you are. People did that every day, didn't die.

He could manage it long enough for Jack to get tired of him. And maybe some day, thousands of years in the future, Jack Harkness would meet a man that resembles someone long since dead in his memory.

And Ianto will have his almost-soul mate again. For a while.