Worth dying for...

[zazajb]

Title: Worth dying for...
Author: zazajb
Rating: R, adult concepts, occasional language, M/M
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, team
Spoilers – none, set in the days just after KKBB S2
Summary: Ianto adjusts to Jack’s return, weevils, temporary deaths and some unexpected outcomes.  Words 2550

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

X-posted Jantolution, jackxianto & TW_classic & tw_proper[apologies to those getting this multiple times]

A/N Iantosdreamer and I were missing the redisourcolour challenges so we decided to challenge each other – her words for me - Theme: unexpected; lion, paper, horizontal ‘Look, it’s not going to fit, can’t you put it elsewhere?’

Worth dying for...

“Fuck, Jack...what happened?” Ianto hurried to help his Captain as he staggered through the roller door, an entire body’s worth of dried blood crusted on his ragged, once-blue shirt, all manner of detritus stuck to his coat [Ianto suppressed a shudder at the amount of cleaning that wonderful coat was going to need before it was restored to his particularly high standards of presentation] and in his hair...

“Weevils...got one but the other one got me...I bled out...” he gasped and leant gratefully into the young Welshman as an arm was wrapped around his waist and he was urged down the steps towards autopsy. It wasn’t until he was sat on the table being helped out of his coat that he raised an inquisitive blood-spattered eyebrow, “...what are you doing here at...” he squinted at the Gremlins alarm clock on Owen’s dresser, “...five to four in the morning..?”

Ianto shrugged, now undoing the buttons of the ruined shirt, “...couldn’t sleep...” he pushed the mangled fabric off Jack’s shoulders and eased the now completely red-stained t-shirt out of his trousers, concentrating on his clothes so he didn’t have to meet his Captain’s eyes, “...thought I’d see if you wanted some company...or coffee or...something...” his voice trailed away and a faint tinge of pink coloured his cheeks, deepening as his hands moved to Jack’s belt and trousers...

Jack winced a little, a tiny hiss of pain escaping his lips as Ianto pulled him forward so he could tug his torn trousers down over his hips...the Welshman immediately stopping and gazing anxiously at him, worry crinkling his brow, “what is it...where does it hurt..?”

A tight smile graced the older man’s face, “I’m fine...just takes a bit longer to recover after... y’know...bleeding out...takes time to die...”

Ianto frowned and scanned Jack’s body closely for any visible signs of injury, leaning in so close that the other man could feel his breath, warm against his skin where it chased trails of goose bumps over his exposed flesh... Jack shivered, clad now only in his jersey boxers with his trousers hanging down round his ankles, prevented from any further escape by his socks and boots.

He quashed a happy sigh as the young man wrapped him into his arms as he murmured “...c’m here...I’ll warm you up a bit, then I’ll get you some clean clothes...or do you want to shower first..?”

Jack nuzzled his face into Ianto’s neck and inhaled the unique scent that was just Ianto, melting into the embrace as he slid his arms around the young man’s waist and snuggled closer...”I’m fine here...stay here...” he mumbled, his grip tightening as Ianto pressed soft kisses to his filthy hair...

Jack closed his eyes and let the heat from Ianto’s body transfer into his own, enjoying the warmth and feeling of security it gave him after that year...he suppressed a shudder, pressing closer still...

Ianto’s arms tightened automatically, a smile curving his lips – Jack might have the heart of a lion, but sometimes he was a cute pussy cat just needing a cuddle...not that he minded of course he admitted ruefully...he hoped that Jack had meant it when he’d asked him out on that date...maybe...just maybe they could make this work?

They remained in silence for long minutes until Ianto asked thoughtfully “...does it hurt? Y’know...coming back?”

Jack didn’t reply, but tightened his hold further.

“Jack..?”

“Yes...” he whispered into the Welshman’s neck as Ianto pulled back to look at him quizzically, “yes, it hurts...like being hauled over broken glass...it’s not so much coming back to life as being flung away from death... It’s not something you ever want to see...”

Ianto shivered at Jack’s tone – he had no doubt that it was far worse than Jack had actually described, but said nothing, merely folding his Captain back into his arms to hold him a while longer. Eventually Jack mumbled that his backside had gone numb and he had pins and needles in his toes so they parted reluctantly...one heading for the shower in his cubby hole, the other to work his magic with the coffee machine...

By the time Jack was showered and dressed, Ianto had made coffee and rustled up bacon sandwiches which they sat and ate in Jack’s office. By unspoken consent, neither mentioned their previous conversation, focusing instead on the more pressing items in the mountain of paper on Jack’s desk. By eight they’d had another two coffees and rattled through most of the files in the ‘urgent’ pile and were enjoying a soft and sensual kiss when the others arrived.

Ianto moved to pull away as the roller door sirens blared, Jack’s hand sliding behind his head to keep his lips firmly in place as he deepened their kiss... Ianto was powerless to prevent the moan of pleasure that was lost against Jack’s mouth as he was kissed into oblivion.

Seeing them thus happily occupied the team chuckled, nudging each other. “Do you think they’ve been..?” Gwen giggled and waggled her eyebrows, the girls breaking out into delighted laughter as Owen added a few choice hip movements

“You mean the old horizontal bop! Oh yea, they’re at it all right...I’ll quiz the tea boy later...bet you I can get him to spill the beans...”

 Jack and Ianto came up for air, the Welshman panting hard, his head spinning and his knees weak, floating on a wave of 51^st century pheromones and the warmth of Jack’s body against his... He moved unsteadily towards the door, Jack grinning at the mussed hair, flushed face and deliciously pink, kiss swollen lips as Owen yelled up the stairs from autopsy.

“Oi, tea boy, when you’ve got the coffee on, I need a hand with something down here...”

Ianto rolled his eyes and headed to the kitchen as the others settled at their workstations. Coffee and Danish pastries, provided by Tosh, duly delivered, Ianto turned his steps towards autopsy where it looked like Owen was attempting to bring order from the usual chaos... “Ok, grab hold of the end of this and we need to get it over to that corner...” Owen instructed indicating a large heavy old chest of drawers. With much grunting and effort they shifted the unit to the opposite side only to find the gap wasn’t big enough despite Owen’s increasingly loud and grumpy protests that he’d measured it first...

Sighing heavily, Ianto finally lost patience, “look, it’s not going to fit, can’t you put it somewhere else? I’ve got better things to do than stand around while you try and shove it in a hole that’s clearly too small..!”

“I bet that’s what you say to Jack all the time..!” Owen snarked back, remembering his bet with the girls...

His cheeks flushing, Ianto looked Owen in the eyes, amusement twinkling in those bright blue depths, “....you’ll have to do better than that...I’ll leave you to it...” he added as Owen howled in protest, his autopsy bay in disarray and the prospect of no additional labour to help him move it. At the top of the stairs, Ianto turned back and delved into his pocket. “Here, try this...it’ll help you get it in..!” he chuckled and tossed the measuring tape at the acerbic medic before vanishing down to the archives.

When the rift alert blared out half an hour later, Jack took Gwen, Tosh and Ianto, leaving Owen to finish his grumbling and reorganisation. After a frustrating game of hide and seek through the city they finally managed to corner the Hoix in the left luggage store of the bus station... Jack and Ianto headed back to the SUV via the network of alleys with their captive whilst the girls entertained those staff who’d witnessed the alien, Gwen slipping a light dose of retcon into the tea.

They’d barely got half way back to the SUV when there was a terrified yell from around the corner and a woman ran towards them, screaming. Ianto dragged the Hoix out of sight behind a large skip as the woman drew closer, pointing towards the alley with a trembling finger, “there’s a thing in that alleyway...it’s huge...ugly...big teeth...” she breathed some impressive alcohol fumes at him and veered away from Jack’s outstretched hand... running unsteadily towards the city centre.

Ianto reappeared from behind the skip. “Do we go after her..?” as he gazed at the empty space where the woman had been.

Jack shook his head, “no-one will believe her...” he waved his hand in front of his face, “alcohol poisoning just from her breath!” he explained as Ianto nodded his understanding. “Obviously a weevil...here...” he tossed the car keys at the Welshman, “take Hoixy and stick him in the SUV – give him another shot to put him out completely...don’t know how long this’ll take – and bring the car back here... I’ll go sort this...”

He frowned as Ianto hesitated, obviously recalling the events of earlier that morning, “Hey, I’ll be fine – and it’s not like I won’t come back...” as he turned and strode away, his coat, carefully brushed and lovingly sponged back to full hero condition, billowing impressively behind him...missing the Welshman’s expression of mixed anger and concern and his quiet “be careful, Jack...” as he tugged the Hoix rapidly in the other direction.

As he hurried back towards the SUV, the lightly sedated and currently docile Hoix trotting alongside him, Ianto resolved to have a stern conversation with his Captain about his cavalier attitude to his life – and deaths...his mind flashed the blood soaked images from earlier into his head and he hastened his steps, finally tucking a now soundly sleeping Hoix into the boot before leaping into the drivers seat to return to Jack.

With no response from Jack over the comm. unit, urgency gave his driving a hitherto undiscovered aggressive quality as he carved his way through the traffic, earning himself all manner of rude gestures and curses from other road users. He screeched to a halt at the end of the alley and leapt out, pulling his can of weevil spray out of his pocket, along with his gun... Senses on full alert, he made his way down the alley...

His breath caught in his throat and his heart sank as he gazed down at the two bodies in front of him. Jack lay in a rapidly spreading pool of blood, the dull, open fixed gaze of his blue grey eyes indicating he was dead, pinned down by the body of the weevil which was very obviously dead as it’s head was partly blown away.  Grimacing, he dragged the weevil off and shoved it unceremoniously into a body bag, dumping it on top of the Hoix in the boot.

He returned to Jack and crouched down, taking in the unnatural angle of his head – there was much less blood than that morning, although there was a very messy gash on his neck and shoulder that probably would’ve killed his Captain if he hadn’t died of a broken neck... Carefully removing Jack’s Webley from his hand he tucked it into his own pocket he sat down on the floor and wriggled forward until he had Jack’s head in his lap, stroking his face softly as he smoothed the hair from his forehead.

He couldn’t bear to see Jack’s lifeless eyes staring up so he closed them gently, pressing tender kisses to each eyelid, his heart breaking to see Jack so broken... He tightened his hold and bent down over his body, whispering all manner of endearments in a string of different languages as he waited for Jack to come back to him...

Owen sounding irritably in his ear made him jump and he realised he’d been sat for almost an hour. He pressed his comm. unit to reply, telling Owen that he and Jack were delayed due to a weevil and they’d be back as soon as...”

Owen grunted and agreed to go and collect the girls and pick up something for lunch... Ianto gazed down at the pale face in his lap and wondered why he’d not told Owen the truth... He pondered that question long and hard as he continued to stroke his hand tenderly through his Captain’s hair as the minutes ticked by... So lost was he in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the wound closing and the skin repairing and he jumped when the body in his arms tensed and Jack took a huge agonising gasp of air as he was dismissed roughly from the blackness, his arms flailed wildly until they connected with something warm...something with a familiar and reassuring scent and soft Welsh vowels whispered soothing words of comfort in his ear...

He opened his eyes to gaze up into the anxious cobalt blue pools of his gorgeous Welshman. “Jack...you...er...ok?” he asked hesitantly, remembering every word of the older man’s description of the painful journey back to life.

Jack nodded carefully and closed his eyes again, the raw anguish in Ianto’s face more painful than any amount of physical agony. “You waited...for me...why...I didn’t want you to see...it’s...”

“Sshh, it’s ok...and you’ll never have to come back alone again...if I can be there I will be...you shouldn’t ever have to go through that alone...it’s...” his words were cut off as Jack dragged his head down to crush their lips together, kissing him with a passion that made his head spin until they broke apart gasping.

Struggling to his feet, Jack held his hand out to haul Ianto up from the grubby alley floor, tugging him into a fierce hug as soon as he was upright, whispering a heartfelt “thank you...” against the young man’s ear. “C’mon, let’s get back to the hub before the others...”

“I didn’t tell them...” Ianto cut across Jack’s words, “I just said we were delayed...”

Jack raised an expressive eyebrow but said nothing, wondering for the millionth time what he’d done to have been blessed with this amazing man. He slid into the passenger seat, glancing across with a smile – a rare and special smile that he now realised he only ever gave when he was alone with Ianto his Ianto... this could work... “You fancy going out for that date tonight?” he said quietly, reaching for Ianto’s hand.

Ianto looked startled, but grinned his agreement “...and Sir, we are going to have a conversation about you not getting yourself killed every day...” he squeezed Jack’s hand before releasing it and starting the engine.

Jack sat back and closed his eyes as his body continued to recharge, considering that of all his countless deaths and revivals, this was the one that had most definitely been worth dying for...

Requested sequel: Worth living for http://zazajb.livejournal.com/34553.html

End