One day more...

Title: One day more...
Author: zazajb
Rating: PG-13, adult concepts, occasional language, M/M
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, team
Spoilers – KKBB - set beginning TW S2
Summary: Ianto thinks about how Jack left them... words 900

Fic masterlist: http://zazajb.livejournal.com/6286.html

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters - just like to dabble with them from time to time
A/N SOP = standard operating procedures
A/N 2 Next chapter of Lost inside of you will be up tomorrow - had way too many distractions this week...
X-posted Jantolution, jackxianto & TW classic [apologies to those getting multiple posts]

 

One day more   

Ianto sighed heavily as he made his way down the stairs with the coffees. Owen and Gwen were arguing again! If it wasn’t about SOP, it was about who was leading, if it wasn’t about either of those then it would be about why Jack had left them...and if it wasn’t about that, then it was a new one on him and quite frankly he didn’t give a shit anymore anyway... C’mon Ianto, one day more...it’ll start to get better...just one day more...

Only he’d been saying that for three months now...three months of one day at a time...of coffee and takeaways, running after weevils and other alien crap...endless bickering between Gwen and Owen and the tense fragility of Tosh... He reached the bottom of the stairs. “Coffee’s up...”

No-one noticed.

“Coffee’s up!” he bellowed above the ever increasing voices of the toddler-esque adults in front of him. “That’s better! Now sit down, drink up and shut up!” They gaped at him...the quiet, retreated-into-his-shell-after-Jack-ran-away Welshman who spent all his time here these days... “Thank you”

Gaping Ianto could deal with, it was the constant raised voices that did his head in. He took his coffee down into Jack’s bunker and sat on his bed, the bed that still smelled faintly of the man who’d saved him from self destruction after Lisa, putting him back together with an unexpected tenderness before shattering him again after Abaddon when he’d failed to revive...

His heart broken, the realisation that he’d fallen totally and hopelessly in love with the enigma that was Jack too much to take in until, suddenly, there he was, back again, alive, and he’d staggered falteringly into his Captain’s arms...and Jack had kissed him...a proper kiss that promised so much more...and Ianto’s heart had sung once again...

...until Jack ran away from them... They’d watched him on the CCTV playback, throwing himself at a big blue box as it vanished...and Jack with it.

He’d never see Jack again...he didn’t believe it...couldn’t believe it...just give him one day more... Eventually, that fact settled like an iron overcoat, heavy on his shoulders...Jack wasn’t coming back...ever...

Now he existed, numb, an automaton...he kept the team running – fed them, watered them, cleared up after them...chased aliens with them as well now...there was no joy in any of this...he just kept telling himself one day more...it’ll get easier...just one day more...

The rift alert blared out and he dragged himself off the bed, surprised to find that he’d somehow curled up around the pillow... He climbed up the ladder. Tosh looked at him before glancing nervously between Owen and Gwen who were eyeing each other warily.

“What we got?” Ianto’s quiet question stirred them both into action.

“Some kind of red Blowfish...stolen a sports car and joyriding around the streets...”

“Bloody brilliant...another late night then...” Owen was seriously pissed. He grabbed the keys off the hook, “I’ll drive...”

Gwen shrugged, driving wasn’t what they usually fought over...”...let’s go then...”

They piled into the SUV, picking up the trail of the wildly reckless Blowfish, stopping to ask members of the public when they thought they’d lost it... Another row broke out when Owen decided that the best way to stop the tearaway vehicle was to shoot its tyres out, only he would be doing the shooting from the driver’s seat, yelling at Gwen to take the wheel...

More by luck than judgement, Owen hit the tyre and Gwen avoided crashing the SUV so a temporary truce was formed, a mutual respect for each other’s part in saving the day...only the day wasn’t saved yet...

A shot rang out. The Blowfish, high on drugs and, no doubt, the adrenaline from its euphoric joyriding, had broken into a house and shot a man there...he now had a gun to the woman’s head, threatening to shoot, whilst he tormented them about their missing leader...a direct line that tapped straight into all their insecurities...

Great, another race Jack had managed to upset during his time on...well he was going to say earth but that probably wasn’t entirely accurate...either way, he needed to take the shot..and he was more than capable...hell he was a better shot even than him...don’t think about him now, just take the shot so we can all go back to the hub and I can spend another night not sleeping...counting away the hours...one day more...

He took aim. A shot...a perfect shot as the Blowfish crumpled to the floor, its brains splattered all over the curtains...

Ianto’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t taken the shot... He swung round...and his heart leapt as he met the eyes of the man he thought he’d never see again...fuck...he was still gorgeous...he wanted to fling himself into his arms and kiss him hard...run his hands over his body...his groin leapt to attention...butterflies danced in his stomach...his thoughts tumbled wildly..no...NO... He suppressed a whimper as his Captain grinned widely...

“Hey kids, did you miss me..?”

“...Yan...you with me..?” Jack propped himself up on his elbow as his fingers stroked softly down the side of his Welshman’s face.

“Huh..?” Ianto looked up into the endless blue grey depths of Jack’s eyes.

 “...you were miles away...”

“Just making my daily wish...”

“Daily what?”

“Every day when I wake to find myself still here...still alive...still with you...I make a wish...”

“What for..?”

He reached out and tugged Jack’s mouth down to his, “One day more...”

End