All the time we have 3/8 + epilogue

[zazajb]

Title: All the time we have
Author: zazajb

Beta: The absolutely wonderful: badly_knitted 

Artwork by: the amazing penny_sieve 
Rating: NC-17, adult concepts, occasional language, M/M

Warnings: mentions of character death end s2 and day 4 CoE
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, team
Spoilers – possible all s1-3 TW, plus radio 4 play The Dead Line: set between TW s2 & s3, directly after Radio 4 play The Dead Line
Summary: Following Ianto’s speech to Jack in The Dead Line, Jack tries to show Ianto he’ll never be just a blip in time

Word count: 23100

Written for TW Big Bang Round 2

A/N Not done anything quite like this before and I have to say I loved every minute! I have to say a huge thank you to my wonderful beta badly_knitted who shared the highs and sent me cookies and hugs when I was doubting my sanity [that’s a lorry-load of cookies and even more hugs!] Thank you *hugs close* Also special thanks to the amazingly talented penny_sieve who took my words and gave them life with her awesome artwork – thank you so much *raises a glass to you*

A/N 2 Hope you enjoy...xxx

 

All the time we have 3/8 + epilogue

Chapter 3

Jack opened his eyes slowly, he was deliciously warm and cosy and wrapped around a gorgeous Welshman. He snuggled in, breathing in the familiar and reassuring scent that was Ianto. He had no idea what time it was, though no doubt it was way beyond the realms that could realistically be categorised under a ‘long lunch’! Dismissing the thought, he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of Ianto’s neck, nuzzling closer, a smile curving his lips as the young man stirred and mumbled his name...he adored being the first word out of that sensual mouth as he woke...

He added more soft kisses as the mumbling switched to murmurs of appreciation and he felt his body twitch in response to the wriggling of his Welshman’s hips... He reached out to turn the young man round to face him, capturing his lips in a tender kiss that grew in intensity...and then it was later still and they were pressed together under the shower as the warm spray cascaded down on them...

They emerged, sated and glowing, when the water was cooling and dried each other, no words...just emotions and soft brushes of lips... Ianto rummaged in Jack’s wardrobe, pulling out an old battered pair of jeans and one of Jack’s t-shirts and disappeared up the ladder to put on some coffee and order a pizza – it was late and he was hungry! He grinned as he saw their clothes piled up on Jack’s desk, his eyes widening as he picked up the photo and an unmistakable warm feeling crept through him as he absorbed the closeness of their bodies even in sleep...

“Our clothes are up here...Gwen must’ve found them...oh, and she left us this..!” He dropped the picture down to Jack and continued on his way to the kitchen without waiting to hear Jack’s response. Coffee made and pizza ordered, he headed back to Jack’s office to find his Captain still naked, gazing at the picture, one finger trailing gently over their still forms...

“Jack..?” he frowned at the lack of response, reaching out a hand to the older man’s shoulder, his breath catching in his throat as Jack turned and looked at him, tears rolling down his cheeks... “...this is what I’ll always remember...we’re so beautiful...” his voice trailed away as he grabbed a handful of t-shirt and pulled the young man towards him, crushing their lips together hungrily, desperately, as he tried to show in action the words he could never seem to say out loud...

The ring of the Tourist Information bell finally broke them apart as it announced the arrival of their belated lunch-dinner and Ianto regretfully disentangled himself from his Captain’s embrace, their fingers remaining entwined until the last moment and they were out of reach...

By the time Ianto had let in the delivery man and paid him, Jack had pulled on some clothes and was sat on the sofa in his office, sipping his cooling coffee, a thoughtful look on his face...

They munched their pizza in silence – a not unpleasant brooding kind of silence – that Jack broke by taking both of Ianto’s hands in his and entwining their fingers carefully before announcing, “I’ve loved hundreds of people in my lifetime, but I’ve been in love with very few...three, in fact...the first two were centuries ago...the third...is you...” he squeezed their joined hands and looked up to meet Ianto’s blue eyes, love blazing out of his own blue grey pools. “I don’t say it very often because I try not to love anyone, really love...it hurts so much when I have to lose them...” He leant forward to press their lips together gently, relishing the softness as they kissed tenderly.

“I tried so hard to resist you Jones, Ianto Jones...everything you did...we did...and I was getting by...it was...well, I don’t know what it was, but it just was...and then there was the Master and the one thought that kept me fighting was you – your face, your laugh...just you and I knew I had to keep going so I could tell you...only I never did...sshh,” he stilled Ianto’s predicted protest as he opened his mouth, “I never said those words properly...I love you...” he smiled, half shyly as he kissed his Welshman again, breaking off to say again, louder, “I love you...” and finally shouting it so it echoed around the empty hub, “I love you,” capturing the young man’s lips in a searing kiss as he melted against him.

They settled on the sofa, lips still tingling from their prolonged and enjoyable kisses, Ianto leant into Jack’s shoulder as the older man draped his arm around him, a warmth in his belly that had absolutely nothing to do with hot coffee or pizza... “Tell me some more about your time with Stella...” he said, wriggling closer as Jack’s embrace tightened.

“Right, well, after we’d met briefly in A & E, I bumped into her in the grocery store a few days later – hey, none of your giant supermarkets back then! I bought tea and sugar and milk and she punched me on the arm for ignoring her! Tell the truth, I was a little distracted as we’d been working flat out trying to track an unknown energy signature that seemed to have a taste for cats – night after night we were finding the stripped carcasses of someone’s beloved pet and it was really starting to grate - and it was costing a fortune in replacements...” he shrugged as Ianto raised an eyebrow, “I’m not totally without heart y’know...some of these kids were devastated so we bought new cats for them and gave them a gentle dose of retcon, just enough for the suggestion to be implanted...”

He grinned as Ianto reached for him, “I love you, you big soppy oaf...” and allowed himself to be thoroughly kissed before he continued with his tale.

“So, I met up with Stella for a coffee and we took up where we left off before she’d moved away...it was really nice to have someone to talk to about everything, especially the rough bits – don’t forget I wasn’t the boss so there were lots of things I did that I didn’t agree with...some were, well...no, you really don’t want to know, suffice to say, there’s no way on earth I’d do them by choice...

Stella was gorgeous, funny and darned clever with it. She helped me plot the attacks and narrow them down to an area to the west of the park and then came with me as my cover – we spent the evening snogging against a tree...” he squeezed Ianto tightly, “...not as romantic as it sounds – we both had one eye open for a cat-hungry alien and that tends to take the edge off anything else!

So there we were, draped over each other for three hours waiting and then we noticed this ginger cat stalking up on this little bird, only as soon as it was close enough this little bird turned into a bloody huge Diatryma – that’s a prehistoric bird of prey-type thing, eight feet tall, the T-Rex of birds if you like...and just sucked the cat into its beak before we had a chance to blink! There was no way I was letting it get its beak into Stella, so I shoved her behind the tree and threw myself at it...”

“...my big brave hero...” Ianto murmured, grinning.

“I managed to get the syringe into its neck, but that just made it mad and it spat the cat out - God, that was disgusting! - and tried to replace it with me as I tried to shove a second sedative into it. We danced a bit and then it knocked me over with one of its bloody wings, and it probably would’ve eaten me then if Stella hadn’t come out from behind the tree and distracted it so I had time to get up. I was just going for the syringe when it remembered I was there and side-swiped me with its beak...and broke my neck...”

Ianto sat up in horror, “It killed you?”

“Yeah...dead as the proverbial dodo!” he pulled the Welshman back into his embrace before continuing. “So, I’m dead on the floor and when I revive I’ve got my head in Stella’s lap and an unconscious giant bird next to us...incidentally, a giant bird that stank! The first thing Stella does is hit me! I can see her now – her face – she was so angry! ‘I thought you were bloody dead, Jack! Don’t do that to me!’ How little she knew then!

So, when I’d gone down she’d grabbed the syringe from the ground and jabbed it in its leg which, combined with the earlier shot, was enough to knock it out...”

“So, did you tell her that you were dead..?”

“Yeah, although she took some convincing! She was just about to try and find a pulse when I revived, so I didn’t have that little gem to help me. In the end I offered to shoot myself to prove it to her...which, of course, she declined...and hit me again...come to think of it...she used to hit me quite a lot back then!”

“I knew I liked her!” Ianto chuckled, tipping his head up to press for a kiss, which delayed the storytelling for some considerable time as they crawled progressively further inside each other’s mouths, hands raking over bodies and tangling in hair until they ran out of oxygen and pulled apart gasping.

“No, she didn’t believe me until she saw it...ironically, this particular death was nothing alien related at all...we were out walking...going on a picnic actually...I like picnics – there’s something about eating in the open air – and we were going along a narrow country road when a car came along and ploughed straight into us...I barely had time to shove her out the way before it hit me, crushed me totally and then careered off the road into a tree...

Stella said she saw immediately I was dead so went to help the driver. He was dead too – heart attack at the wheel she thought... Well, no mobile phones in those days, so she sat and waited to see if I’d come back...which of course I did! She took it well – hugged me, kissed me...and hit me all in the space of a minute, and that was it really, we never mentioned it after that!”

He tugged Ianto in closer and kissed him tenderly. “You had enough for tonight? Want to come back to bed..?”

Ianto sighed softly against Jack’s mouth, their tongues swirling lazily as they explored familiar territory until they broke for air. “Do you think you’ll tell our story like this one day..?” he asked, wistfully, blinking back the tears that sprang unbidden at the thought of being without Jack...the thought that for that to happen, he’d need to be dead...

Jack sat up and cupped the young man’s face with both hands, gazing into his eyes, “...like this? No...that would mean I’d be here with someone else...feeling how I feel now...with you, loving you...but I will share our story – with my team...whoever they are – they’ll all know about a man called Jones, Ianto Jones...” his eyes filled with tears... “C’m here...” he crushed their lips together, his arms wrapping round the Welshman he loved so much...needed...

Jack led him back down the ladder and undressed him slowly, worshipping his body, loving him completely until they lay tangled and trembling in the afterglow... Jack kissed him softly. “That picture...the one Gwen took...we’re going to use that to start our own memory collection... something we can build together...we’re going to do a time capsule of us...” He kissed him again and snuggled in as they drifted off to sleep...

 

Chapter 4  http://zazajb.livejournal.com/22078.html