Work Text:
Always
by Julia
Ianto had been surprised when he had walked into the hub on the morning of his twenty sixth birthday to find the other four people who made up the Cardiff Torchwood team waiting for him smiles on their faces.
"Happy Birthday Ianto." Gwen said stepping forward and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Happy birthday" Owen and Tosh said together both hugging him and going about their daily work.
"You organised this didn't you." Ianto accused his lover who still stood with a faint smile on his face.
"Me?" Jack questioned an innocent look on his face that did not fool Ianto for one minute.
"Jack, thank you." Ianto said quietly before slipping past and setting to work for the day.
~*~
Later:
Jack was sat on his chair with Ianto perched on the edge of his desk watching as the older man finished off some paper work. The young Welshman was humming under his breath as he got to his feet and wandered around Jack's office looking at various strange things that littered the room.
"Got you something." Jack says at length only then is Ianto aware that Jack has been watching him for some minutes.
"But the team already gave me things." Ianto said surprised.
"This is from me." Jack replied holding out a box. Flushing slightly Ianto sat on the couch and opened the small box, inside were two things, one was a very familiar stopwatch. Ianto could not stop blushing remembering what they had done with that stopwatch; it had been the first time that they had fucked and both had been emotionally drained afterwards. The other thing was a small gold key which made Ianto look up a confused look on his face.
"What is this for Jack?"
"It is a promise to you that I will not just disappear. Next to the hand it is the most precious thing I own and I want you to have it. I need you to know that you can trust me, I can't explain a lot to you and frankly I don't think you'd understand or believe most of it but I promise I will not run out on you." Jack said seriously.
"Thank you." Ianto said straddling Jack's lap and kissing him deeply.
"I care for you a lot Ianto and would not want you to enter the hub one morning and find me missing. One day someone will show up who will be able to give me the answers to all the questions I have and I won't have time to say goodbye." Jack told his young lover after the kiss ended.
"Thank you Jack." Ianto replied getting to his feet.
"We are meeting the rest of the team in an hours time you want me to run you home to get changed now or can you wait ten minutes for me to be ready?"
"I have something to finish here so I can wait." Ianto replied climbing off Jack's lap reluctantly and walking down into the hub. Jack watched his lover walk down into the hub, he bit his lip as he thought about what he needed to say before the night was out. Shaking his head he headed for the ladder to his room, he would have to be very quick if he wanted to be ready in less than ten minutes.
Ianto kept glancing at his watch and was not surprised when he heard a step behind him just before the tenth minute. Spinning round on his chair he prepared to make some glib comment, the words died unsaid in his throat. Jack stood behind him a smirk on his face. Ianto swallowed hard wondering when the temperature in the hub had
risen so high, Jack was wearing skin tight black leather trousers and a white t-shirt just as tight. His hair had been gelled into a ruffled style, seeing his boss out of his usual period clothing Ianto was struck by how young he looked.
"You ready to go?" Jack asked well aware of the effect his appearance was having on the younger man.
"Yes." Ianto replied very pleased with himself for being able to say even one word when his lover was looking at him like that.
"After you then Mr Jones." Jack said with a smirk and followed his lover out of the hub picking up a leather jacket
~*~
Four hours later
Ianto sat with Tosh and Jack laughing at Owen and Gwen singing a very out of tune version of `Summer lovin'' from Grease. As the two singers drew to an end of their song Jack started to tell a story about appearing in the show before the film came out. When Owen sat down he passed another round of shots round the small group, which they drank when Gwen sat down again after a short phone conversation with Rhys.
"Can Jack Harkness make his way to the stage, Jack Harkness please." The DJ said, the team looked at their leader in surprise they did not know he had even agreed to sing.
"Be right back." Jack said giving Ianto a quick squeeze on his shoulder and wriggled his way through the other people in the bar to reach the stage.
The music that started shortly after Jack reached the stage sounded familiar to Ianto but he could not remember exactly where he knew it. As he started to sing Jack stood at the front of the stage looking straight at Ianto singing to him. "Now I can't sing a love song like the way it's meant to be Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore But, baby, that's just me." Jack was singing.
"He's not got a bad voice." Owen said quietly.
"That's so sweet." Gwen murmured to Tosh picking up on the undercurrent that Owen had missed.
Ianto smiled broadly at Jack and listened to the song, he was not sure whether what he was hearing was what Jack meant to say or Ianto was just wishing to hear the older man say he loved him.
"I'll be there 'til the start don't shine, 'til the heaven burst and the words don't rhyme, I know that when I die you'll be on my mind, And I'll love you always." Jack finished almost on a whisper still staring at Ianto.
There was a loud cheer from the rest of the patrons in the pub when he got off the stage.
"Jack?" Ianto asked as his lover sat next to him.
"I love you." Jack whispered as the other three members of his team made sure to be looking elsewhere.
"Me too." Ianto replied pulling Jack towards him for a kiss.
Gwen was the first of the team to look back,
"I think it is about time for us to leave." She commented to Tosh as the two men only had eyes for each other.
As the five people stood outside the bar waiting for Rys to arrive and collect Gwen and Tosh, Owen had made arrangements to join a friend in a club. Ianto and Jack stood apart talking quietly,
"You do not need to go back to the hub tonight do you?" Ianto questioned.
"No." Jack replied slowly.
"How about coming home with me?" Ianto asked, he had never asked Jack to come back to his apartment all the nights they had spent together before had been spent in the hub or on a couple of occasions hotels when Jack had had to travel for meetings.
"You sure?" Jack replied not wanting to push his lover.
"I love you." Ianto replied as though that was answer enough.
The taxi and Rhys arrived about the same time and with calls of `Happy Birthday' Jack and Ianto headed back to his flat.
Keeping watch over Ianto that night Jack hoped that he could keep his promise to Ianto that he would not leave without saying goodbye but he had a feeling it was a promise he was going to be unable to keep.
Two weeks later Bilis Manger entered their lives for the first time and everything changed.
The end