Hello, here is some Jack standing cuffed still. Can't do anything about that. I've read allot of fan-fiction stories recently so I'm considering new strategies in retrieving feed back. I'm having trouble in getting responses in all areas at the moment so this is not bad place to practice. And it's really nice to get some :)

Spoiler alert: The Last of the Time Lords

Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian

Jack lost track of time. He just stood there in constant light; he only knew time passed because guards shift changes, the Master visited and Francine brought him food. Only because of Martha's family did he keep his appearance normal, but the Master saw right through him and Jack hated it. After he'd told him what happened to his team and supported it with pictures Jack gave up. Not on the Doctor, he believed that the Doctor would fix this, he had to, and he knew from the nature of the paradox that there is a strong chance they all would be alive when this was over, but they were dead now, dead for him, and because of him. He wasn't surprised that seeing them dead would hurt so much, they were the closest thing to a family he had in years, but he was surprised how hard it was to believe it. He resigned himself that all around him would die in time, very soon from his point of view, but he didn't realized that he would regret so much, regret withdrawal, guarding his borders, things he missed out because he wanted to avoid the pain and the loss. But in spite of all that pain was there, and with it came remorse.

He wasn't sure anymore if he should go back to them if everything were to reset. He would always see them as ghostly creatures he'd already seen dead, and yet he would have to go through it again when they died outside the paradox. That's why Jack had spent his time standing with closed eyes and cataloged his memories about all of them trying to preserve them to his memory knowing that it was in vain, that time would move on and it would eventually take everything from him.

That's why when the man in the suit came in, it wasn't unusual for one of the Masters pets to come around with some task of measuring Jack's head and that kind of things, Jack thought he moved a lot like Ianto, careful but determinate. That's why when the man stopped he looked up to his face, usually he wasn't very interested in their faces; he didn't want to recognise them when everything went back to normal. He smiled when he looked at his face; it figured that he started to see phantasms, his mind was so tired and for once Jack was grateful for this trick it pulled on him. For change it wasn't Grey to yell at him, or Angelo to scream behind him, or his wife to reclaim him, this time it was Ianto. It was nice to see Ianto, it was always nice to see Ianto; he was just so... Jack couldn't find a word for it. He could be angry, disapproving, reprimanding, and tired, but it never looked malicious on him; except that one time he'd punch him, but even then when it all went to hell he wasn't the one to pull the trigger. He also could look adorable, happy, aroused, sleepy, teasing, ironic and challenging; of course that all made him hot as hell, it was rare really to come across somebody that would embody such amount of qualities that would attract Jack.

Then the phantasm of Ianto rushed towards him and Jack was dazed by the fact that his face didn't change into something else, and that it looked so worried, like it pained it to see Jack like this. Ianto would look that way if he was here. When he was close Jack noted that this phantasm is even tinier than his Ianto, and that he looked tired.

"For God sake Jack" it whispered in Ianto's voice sounding scared "speak up, you look awful."

"Thanks" Jack responded automatically "it's always nice to hear a compliment" he felt how his face stretched into a smile because this Ianto had longer hair and it looked kind of silly, all curly and messy, his Ianto would never allow that.

"Let's just get out of here, and then we can exchange pleasantries" he grunted and reached for Jack's cuffed hand. When his hand grabbed Jack's Jack gasped with surprise. It was real, this was his Ianto.

"Ianto what are you doing here? Aren't you dead?" Jack tried to shake off the fog from his mind, but Ianto didn't disappear he just placed an unlocking device from the Hub to his cuffs and his hand was free, it fell down from surprise.

"I'm getting you out of here." He said reaching for the other hand, but Jack grabbed him by the hand forcing him to face him. Ianto's eyes were serious and heavy, they looked older, but it was him.

"The others? Are they dead?" Jack whispered "I've seen pictures."

"Oh" Ianto smiled sadly "sorry about that, we're all alive, the flying balls were on to us, we had to give them something to put them off the trail. Some of our friends in Asia gave them what they needed to see."

"Flying balls?" Jack smiled.

"Yeah, it suits them better, and I'm not going to break my tongue over them." Ianto deadpanned and Jack smile grew and inch wider.

"We have the time schedule here" Ianto reached for the other hand but Jack stopped him one more time.

"No" he said calmly "I'm not going, strap me back."

"What?" Ianto's face squinted in anger "What do you mean, this is not time for Stockholm syndrome Jack, I'm not going to just leave you here to die over and over again. Why would you want to do that?" Ianto's eyes turned small like they do when he is overpowered with emotions, he looked away.

"Ianto listen to me" Jack's voice turned into his ordering tone "it's not time for discussion; you have to trust me on this one, remember what happen last time you didn't."

Ianto straighten himself up and looked Jack in the eye suddenly calm.

"I do remember Jack; you ended up stone cold in the morgue for days and you've could stay there if Gwen didn't persist. This is time for discussion, we have" Ianto looked at his watch "15 minutes till that camera up there starts to film again, now is fed by old footage. Convince me why I shouldn't just knock you down and drag you out of here, we have trolley ready in case if you were dead when we came in." Jack blinked few times amazed by this new unfaltering Ianto before him and then started to talk fast saving time.

"We can fix this, all of this, not just defeat flying balls and the Master, but erase everything they have ever done, just reset the time, but we can do this only from here where Tardis is, and the Doctor can do it, he just needs time. And Martha Jones, down there needs time too, to complete her task and come back here, and then we can reverse all of it. When the time comes the Doctor will need me here, to help him, it could all go wrong without me. And I am partly to blame for this because I jumped on the Tardis and pushed it, but never mind, I've had worse parties than this Master guy, humans are much more savage people than any alien." Jack paused to take in air and Ianto watched him for a moment unreadable then he took his hand and strapped it back to its place above Jack's head, he looked defeated.