Author's Notes: Well. This is all shippy and strange and I actually think that there's a fair bit of character study that went into it; even into the parts with Lisa and Jack. I thought about getting them to kiss as well, but then decided that it was going to kill the effect I wanted it to have, so... I hope you like it, mind, even if it is rather short. As usual, feedback is appreciated.
Colour: Brown
Prompt: an empty field
The sky was clear and – for the first time in a while – blue. They hadn't visited Earth in quite some time and Ianto realised that he had actually missed it, even if the only memories he had from here were the ones as a human. As foggy as some of them were, he remembered the small planet – so far away from his home and yet so significant, given the potential of its habitants and the thousands of colonies they would build in the future – with fondness and he found that he was happy to be back here.
He was lying down on his back on the ground – there wasn't even grass, only the brown earth and the remnants of last year's harvest – and was surprisingly not bothered about the state of his clothes for once. His eyes were locked on the sky and there was another surprising thing today – there wasn't a cloud to be seen and Ianto smiled. Usually, he associated Cardiff and Wales in general with the rain and the heavy gray skies that hung over it, but now he could remember the days that had been like that as well.
The first time he'd had a proper picnic, it had been with Lisa. She'd chosen the Welsh countryside, saying that she wanted to see first had what it was that Wales boasted so much about when it came to nature. She'd said that it was beautiful, but that it still couldn't beat London and she had been so open and honest and so fundamentally different from him and he'd loved her for it.
Later – almost two years later, really – it had been Jack. It had all been very hesitant and gentle and the Captain had initiated it, saying that proper dating included picnics and that if they were going to do this, they had to do it by the book. Ianto had laughed at that, only to have Jack admit rather nervously – which had been, in all honesty, as endearing as it could get – that the last time he'd dated properly had been almost a decade before Ianto had even been born, which had only made the man in question laugh even harder. Jack had looked so solemn and determined to do things right that Ianto had leant in and kissed him full on the lips, stopping his instructions and plans mid-sentence.
It was a good sign, Ianto decided, that he could look back at Lisa and Jack and see the good times – especially now as he was back in twenty-first century Wales, even if it was just for a while. Neither of them was stained in his memories any longer; he'd got over the anger and the pain and all that was left was the warmth they had both given him. Jack had been right when they'd last met, he supposed; those memories didn't even belong to him completely. He hadn't truly lived through them; it was Ianto Jones, who had been young and foolish – which was very much like him – but he'd also been human, and painfully so. That was what he lacked now, probably. The humanity in him had burned along with the rest of the man he'd created before leaving Gallifrey. He found it in the Doctor sometimes because the Doctor was merciful. He never killed unless he didn't have a choice unlike Ianto himself who was, frankly, a warrior and could hardly be taught to be anything else now. That was why they worked so well together, or so Ianto thought; they could balance each other.
The Doctor was lying next to him now and Ianto smiled at the familiar presence as he glanced sideways to look at him.
"You know," the older Time Lord started and Ianto held back an amused sigh. He'd realised long ago that the man couldn't stay silent for more than thirty seconds. It wasn't a bad thing, though; not when one considered that he always had something good to say. "You're really close to home right now."
Ianto knew what he meant, but the words resonated differently in his mind. His eyes wandered up to the TARDIS behind them and then he met the Doctor's warm brown ones as he blindly sought his hand and gripped it lightly.
"Yes," he said quietly, feeling strangely free of any burden for what was probably the first time in his life. "Yes, I think I am."