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Ianto hadn’t expected death to be like this. For one thing, he’d thought that it wouldn’t make his back hurt.
He opens his eyes, expecting to see the paradise that Jack described. Well. Jack had admitted to never actually seeing the paradise, but based on what he had gathered from bugging the guards enough, this… wasn’t what he had been describing.
He almost thinks he’s back at The Hub, for a moment, before realizing that A: it had gotten blown up, B: that wouldn’t make any sense as he was dead, and C: the hub didn’t look quite this level of alien.
A man pops out from behind the large, sort-of-round console in front of him. “Oh, good. You’re awake.” The man's a little sickly looking.
Ianto frowns at him. “I know you.” Sickly-looking but familiar, he notes. He’d only met a few people who could possibly be sharing that description. “Aren’t you… Jack’s ex?” He had remembered the title “Doctor” a moment after he’d said it, but decides not to correct himself. Who cares? He’s dead.
The Doctor makes a face at that before flipping a few more levers on the console. “Not the term I’d use, but sure.”
“Oh.” Ianto studies him for a moment. “Are you dead too?”
The Doctor snorts, at that, a quick show of emotion that is quickly sullied again by the sickly look creeping back onto his face. “Just about.”
“Oh.” Ianto looks around. “So this- this is what, purgatory, then?” Different from Jack’s purgatory. Maybe this was it. Maybe Jack had been wrong, but it felt a little bit like betraying him by thinking that, so Ianto stopped.
“Nah.” The Doctor flashes him a nervous grin. “Just a pit stop, you could call it. This,” he announces, apparently deciding to go for grandeur rather than anxiety, “is my spaceship. The TARDIS.”
Ianto frowns. “The one Jack calls sexy?”
The Doctor makes another face at that. “Sure.”
“But what are we doing in your…” Ianto trails off, feeling the neurons connect. His eyes widen, and the Doctor grins again. “Am I- aren’t I dead?”
“Nope,” the Doctor announces, popping the ‘p’. “Pulled you out just in time.”
“Jack,” Ianto realizes, feeling the last confused piece of the puzzle slot back into place. “Where’s Jack?”
The Doctor makes a face. Turns away to press more buttons.
Ianto pulls himself up faster than he should. “Where the hell is Jack?” Dizziness overwhelms him a second later, and he hits the ground again. The Doctor observes him with curious eyes.
“Back on Earth.”
“You just left him?”
“Couldn’t have him running around the ship like a headless chicken while I was reviving you, could I? Besides, he’s a lot harder to make a clone of. Can’t exactly ask the TARDIS to shave off another bit of her heart, you know.”
“Hold on,” Ianto says, letting the Doctor’s words catch up to him. “Oh, god. Am I a clone?”
“Euff, no, no. Sorry. No, I made a clone of you. Bit Sontaran, really,” he mutters, and makes a face. He seems to like making faces. “Anyway. They needed a body to bury. Jack was dead, you were… salvageable, so I just popped you in my TARDIS and flew off. Grew the clone, revived you, popped back in right after I left, dropped the clone on the ground. Badda boom, badda bing.” He seems pleased. Ianto’s still stuck on most of it.
“You cloned me.” He pauses, for a moment, and then adds, “Torchwood doesn’t bury bodies.”
“Jack did.” He pulls another lever.
Jack. Jack buried his body.
Jack woke up to a dead Ianto next to him.
Jack buried him, not knowing that it wasn’t him.
Oh, god.
“Oh god,” he whispers. “Jack thinks I’m dead.”
“He does,” the Doctor agrees. “Not for much longer, though.”
“He- what?”
“I’m takin’ you home,” says the Doctor, with a wild grin and a bad mockup cowboy accent. With that, he yanks another lever, and it feels like the whole ship goes sideways. Ianto’s slammed against the opposite guardrail, and it seems the Doctor is too, but he’s looking a lot more gleeful about it.
“You’re mad,” says Ianto, terrified and a little bit excited.
“Oh yes,” the Doctor grins, all teeth and big eyes.
“Hold on,” says Ianto, after the room has stopped feeling like a bomb’s gone off. “Why?”
The Doctor stops, looking utterly confused. “Why what?”
“Why bring me back? You barely even know who I am.” Some part of him feels that maybe he shouldn’t be arguing with someone who Jack considers a god, but hey! He’s reeling on that actually-not-dead high.
“Because. You’re important to Jack, and I owe him a few favours.”
“That’s it?”
“What?”
“That’s the only reason you’re bringing me back? Not like- not because of my own life, or my- my family, or anything like that? I’m just a favour?”
“Look,” the Doctor growls, and then stops. For whatever reason, he seems to decide Ianto’s worth more of an explanation than just a threat. “Look,” he repeats, and sighs, running a hand down his face and pinching his nose while squinting. “A… a lot of Jack’s life is fixed points in time.”
“Fixed points?”
“Unchangeable. They’ll always happen that way, and if I try to do anything to change it, I’ll make what happens worse. Or break the universe, whichever happens first.”
“And my death… wasn’t?”
“Well. You dying then wasn’t. Most everything else around it was. Was a bit of a reach to find where they stopped intersecting. Still. Felt Jack was owed. After what he had to do. And you, of course,” he adds after a moment. “I try to help where I can.”
“So… I still have a fixed point of death?”
“Aren’t you a quick learner. Well. You have a couple, it just… depends on how the rest of the universe goes. And a couple non-fixed ones.” He frowns. “I’d stay away from tractors, if I were you. Ooo, and ham-and-egg sandwiches.”
“I- ok. Ok, sure. Fine. Whatever.” Ianto feels like he’s going mad. “And… Jack?”
“What about him?”
“Will he, ever…” The question goes unfinished.
The Doctor looks at him, for a very long time. There’s a look on his face Ianto will never be able to comprehend. If he tried, he would recognize it as something akin to regret. “Can’t tell you,” he says, finally. “Doesn’t matter right now. What matters is getting you home.” He gestures towards the door. “Should be walking by any minute now. Better hurry up.”
“What?”
“Jack.” He gestures towards the door again. “Should be able to catch him before he heads back off-world.”
“...What?”
“God. Jack. Out there.” He points at the door. “Going to walk past the TARDIS in a few minutes, probably isn’t going to want to deal with me right now.”
“What? Why?”
The Doctor looks at him incredulously. “He just lost you, d’you really think he wants to talk to me right now? When he thinks I didn’t save you?”
“What- what’s the date?”
“Exactly two months after your death. Well. I say death, more like impromptu kidnapping and replacement.”
“And- and how long has it been in here since you picked me up?”
“Ooo. Maybe four, five hours?”
“God.” It twists his stomach.
“Yeah.” The Doctor grins at him. “Time travel. Great, isn’t it?”
“Unnerving,” Ianto finally decides. “If it’s been two months- wouldn’t he have already moved on?” It feels a bit like betraying Jack, but after reading his files over and over… “He’s probably got another partner by now.”
The Doctor scoffs. “Nope. Another possible fixed point for him is the “moving on” period. Still. Can be changed. Which is what I’m doing. You should really go.”
“How long?”
“What?”
“How long does it take him to move on from me.”
“...A while. Anyway, been nice seeing you again, but-”
“Tell me.” Ianto looks him dead in the eyes. “I just- I just need to know. If it’ll never happen, it’s ok to tell me, right?” A year, maybe. Though, honestly, Ianto wouldn’t be surprised if Jack suppressed it and it had only taken a week.
The Doctor returns his gaze. Chews on his lip. “Approximately two and a half thousand years,” he says finally. Ianto is frozen. “You’re a very important man, Ianto Jones. Now, if you don’t mind.” He gestures towards the door. “I’m dying, and I’d like to get this over with.”
Ianto stumbles out, blinking at the brightness. “Cardiff,” he says dumbly.
The Doctor pokes his head out behind him. “Just over the rift, actually.” He notices Ianto’s wide-eyed look. “TARDIS charges using it. It’s why Jack probably never tried to permanently close it.”
“Right,” says Ianto, who isn’t really following the conversation anymore. He’s still a bit stuck on the “two and a half thousand years” part.
“Ooo. Look there.” The Doctor points, and Ianto has to force himself to snap out of it and follow. “Time for you to run along, I think.”
Jack.
Jack, in his greatcoat. Jack, speed-walking away from them.
“Jack,” Ianto realizes, and takes off.
He's made it within five meters before Jack snaps, over his shoulder, without looking, in a tone Ianto hasn’t heard him use in a while; “No. Not in the mood right now. Fuck off.”
“Jack,” Ianto calls, and then realizes he doesn’t have much more to say. What do you say to someone who thought you were dead? Who mourned you?
It doesn't matter, anyways, since Jack takes one more very hard step, before freezing in his tracks like a deer in headlights. His clenched fists, unmoving. Rigid. Ianto can’t tell if he’s breathing. “Jack?” he tries. “I- It’s me. I… I came back.”
Nothing.
“It’s Ianto,” he whispers.
Jack turns, slowly, and Ianto catches sight of his face. God. Eyes blank, face full of imperceptible emotion. Ianto hasn’t caught him looking like that since he’d come back from being buried alive. Confusion, mixed with a hint of barely-hidden terror. Lack of recognition.
“Jack,” Ianto says again, and steps forward. Jack flinches backwards, now staring at the ground.
“Shut up,” he whispers, still not looking at him.
“Jack, it’s me-”
“I said shut the hell up,” Jack growls, finally looking up at him. Ianto flinches backwards in turn. “I don’t know what the hell you are, but you have no fucking right to look like him.”
“Jack-”
“No fucking right,” Jack hisses, lunging forward until they’re less than a meter apart. If Ianto wasn't terrified he might've been a little flattered. Jack has his gun out, pointed at Ianto's head. “Now you can either fuck right off to whatever sad little shithole you came from, or I'll fucking kill you right here, right now.” Ianto tries to look back at the TARDIS. “If he gets in my way, I'll kill him. Leave or die. Your choice.”
“It's- it's me, Jack.”
“I buried Ianto Jones,” Jack snaps, face contorted with rage and more than a little grief. “I buried him with my own two hands, and if you think, whatever the fuck you are, that you have any right-”
“You buried a clone.”
The Doctor's voice comes from behind Ianto. Apparently he finally decided to step in. “You buried a clone, Jack,” he repeats.
Ianto tries to look out of the corner of his eye, realizes he can't, and risks turning around. The Doctor leans in the doorway to the TARDIS, eyeing them both. “I swapped him out about five hours ago. Well. Two months for you. Right after you died.” He nods at Ianto. “He woke back up about ten minutes ago. All good. No wounds, no aftereffects. Just Ianto.”
Ianto turns back around. Jack isn't looking at him anymore. He has all his attention trained on the man in the TARDIS. He’d lowered the gun, though, so Ianto counts that as a win.
“I buried him,” Jack repeats. He looks like he’s shaking.
“A clone,” the Doctor repeats in turn. “Would've dropped Ianto off earlier, but you needed time. This was the earliest I could do where you wouldn't shoot us both on sight.”
Jack drops the gun. He doesn't seem to notice.
“He's real, Jack.”
“Jack,” Ianto whispers, taking a step closer. He intertwines their fingers, rubbing the back of Jack's hand. Anything to get Jack to look at him. Two and a half thousand years. “Jack, please.”
Jack feels numb. Numb and cold. Very boney, all of a sudden, compared to several hours ago.
Well.
Several months ago.
The Doctor says something else, which sounded like a goodbye, and Ianto hears the TARDIS singing her goodbyes before Jack finally looks back at him.
He’s crying.
Jack's crying. Jack, who prefers to hide down in his bunker and scream into his pillow when he thinks no one else is in the hub. Jack, who has really only really cried in front of Ianto once, when they'd just lost Owen and Tosh and Jack hadn't remembered that he didn't cry in front of people yet. Back when Jack hadn't been able to remember much of anything, when it came down to it.
This is nothing like that.
“Jack,” Ianto starts, and before he could say anything else they’re on the ground, Jack frantically pressing his ear to Ianto's chest while heaving out sobs.
“Heartbeat- heartbeat, where's your-” Jack sounds frantic.
“It's- it's here, Jack, here-” Ianto presses Jack's fingers to his neck- letting him feel it.
Jack stares at him, eyes wide with tears running down his cheeks. “You're- cold-” he chokes out.
“It was cold in the TARDIS,” Ianto whispers back to him, grabbing Jack's other hand and pulling it under his shirt. It would have been sexy if Jack hadn't been busy panicking. “Here. Feel? Warm. I'm- I'm okay.” He winces. “God, Jack, you're freezing.”
Jack doesn't respond. Ianto pulls him close, nails digging into his back. Jack's own hands, now retracted, are hanging loosely behind Ianto's back.
“I buried you,” Jack whimpers.
Ianto shakes his head, his own cheeks beginning to feel wet. “Not me. I'm here. Right here.”
“I thought- I thought you were dead.”
“Me too.”
“I looked for you,” Jack whispers, sounding a bit hysterical. “When I- they wouldn't tell me if you were in there.”
It takes Ianto a moment to realize Jack's talking about paradise.
“Jack,” he whispers, and can't make anything else out because Jack makes a very long, very broken wounded noise. Like when he screams in the bunker. He sounds like a violently tortured animal. Something that's been cut open and left to die. Ianto pulls him impossibly closer, and Jack's hands scrabble against his back, nails scraping him through his jacket but eventually clasping onto him like Jack thinks he's going to disappear.
He probably does.
Honestly, when Ianto had stepped out of the TARDIS, he hadn't expected to be the one doing the comforting. But, well. Things don't seem to be going the way he expects them today, do they?
Jack makes a few more wounded noises as he slowly starts to sink lower to the ground. Ianto's all but holding him up at this point. He feels like he's starting to hyperventilate, but fights any of Ianto's efforts to pull his face away from his chest.
“Alright,” Ianto whispers a moment later, “alright-” and he pulls Jack back, pries Jack's hands off his back. “Jack, breathe.”
Jack won't look at him again, but he sucks in several deep breaths like he hasn't been breathing this entire time. Knowing him, it's a possibility. “You-” he tries, but his words dissolve into choked sobs again. “I thought- I didn't- didn't notice it- it wasn't you.” His hands are in death grips around Ianto's wrists.
“It's okay,” Ianto whispers. “It's okay. I'm here- I'm here now.”
Jack's head falls back against Ianto's chest once again, and for a brief second of panic Ianto thinks Jack's gone and died in his arms again. A sick reversal of the last six hours for him. But then Jack lets out a shuddering sigh, and pulls Ianto close again. His arms are loose, but strong. Still boney.
“Have you been eating?” Ianto asks, and Jack lets out a hysterical giggle.
“You just- you just died and you want to know if I'm- if I'm eating properly?”
“Well. You can't always have all the resurrection fun.” Ianto gives him a shaky smile as Jack finally looks back up at him, all red-nosed and shiny, still trembling. There's a hint of a smile on his face, and a larger presence of a manic grin. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Jack echoes. “I'll have to- to call Gwen.” He offers a smaller grin. “You're in so much trouble.”
“I'll take it,” he said, and frowned. “Hold on. I died two months ago.” Jack nods, eyes narrowed. His grip on Ianto tightens. “How did- the 456?”
Jack looks away again. “Later,” he whispers, in a voice so small Ianto can barely hear him.
“Jack.”
“They- I didn't- they didn't get to take anyone. Later. Please.”
“Ok,” Ianto says, understanding that “later” might only mean when he's going through the files. “He said… the Doctor said you were going off-world?”
Jack's grip on Ianto tightens. “I thought you were dead.”
“I know. Maybe… after we go see Gwen, d’you think- d'you think I might be able to come with?”
Jack's looking at him like Ianto just asked to marry him. He adds that to the list of “things you need to do when you're alive again” that he's been slowly filling out in his head this entire time.
“Yes,” Jack whispers. “Yes. Please. I don't- we might have to stay a little longer while I fix up the Manipulator so it can handle two again, but- yes. Yes, please.” He pauses. “It might be dangerous. I can't promise you'll be safe.” His grip tightens again.
“Same deal with Torchwood, isn't it?” Ianto laughs softly. “Just don't take me to, you know, super death planet or whatever.”
“Darillium,” Jack whispers to him. “Very safe, if I'm remembering correctly. Oh Ianto, it'd be the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen. One night there lasts twenty-four years.”
Ianto laughs. “Hope we can leave early, then. I'd be over forty by the morning.”
“Still young,” Jack murmurs, and adds, “whatever you want. Anywhere, Ianto. Wherever and whenever. Anywhere you want.” He pulls Ianto close. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I won't leave you again. Promise.”