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Ianto entered the room, being watched in by a cat lady. He wasn’t sure if the rumours were true; if the Face of Boe really was his Jack. But he had to know. He had to be sure.
The Face of Boe was dying... and if it really was Jack... Ianto needed to see him. Ianto had become immortal a long time ago... but he had lost Jack ... He hadn’t been able to find him... until now. So long after... everything. Near the end of the world or the universe or...
“Ianto?”.
His eyes filled with tears at the voice, it sounded old and worn. Ianto could never imagine that voice had once been Jack’s youthful accent throwing flirty lines around the place like confetti. Yet, somehow, there was still something familiar about that voice... Perhaps it was the way it filled him with light or made him feel safe. Maybe it was how it covered him in a blanket or warmth but either way, Ianto knew... This was his jack or rather, it once had been him.
The Face of Boe was no longer the smiling, handsome, charming captain but... Ianto had never liked Jack solely for his looks so to him, it changed nothing.
“Hey...” he smiled a watery smile, his voice trembling.
The eyes watched him move across the room for their glass case.
“You’re... you’re dead,” the voice muttered sounding suddenly a little more like Jack... But only a little.
Ianto shook his head.
“Jack... I... I can’t die ... you left before I could find you I-” tears rolled down his face as he placed a hand on the glass.
The eyes watched him with sadness but the mouth curved into a smile.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name”.
“Well...” Ianto began, “I believe it has been too long since you heard your real name, Javic”.
A large tear rolled down the face “You haven’t changed... at all”.
Ianto huffed out a laugh through his own tears, his breath steaming up the glass in front of him.
“You have” he choked.
As he studied the Face, the more it looked like Jack. The scar under his eye the captain had gained when he was mortal was still prominent, the freckle on the side of his nose was still very much visible and his eyes... his eyes were still full of so much hope and so much pain but everything about him was still Jack... Just older and wiser.
Jack’s eyes studied him once again. “Still so beautiful” he complimented, averting his eyes from Ianto’s.
“Jack? Look at me?” The Welshman prompted.
“No,” Jack mumbled in a crackly voice. “I’m so... ugly now...”.
Ianto couldn’t help but huff a laugh.
“That’s not why I loved you, you silly captain... I still love you, Jack. I promise I do”.
The eyes moved slowly to meet his.
“Even like this?” The captain asked slowly his eyes filled with tears.
Ianto nodded slowly, “I love you no matter how you look, Jack ... my brave brave hero”.
Ianto leaned just head against the cold glass wishing he could just ... reach out and touch him.
“My baby... you came back to me... just like I always dreamed you would,” the captain murmured from within his glass confines, making Ianto cry harder. “I’m dying Ianto... for real,” Jack told him sounding suddenly smaller than he’d ever been.
“I know” Ianto mumbled to the glass.
“I’m scared Ianto I’m... I’m so scared I don’t know what it’s like. I’ve only ever known the darkness... The temporary darkness ... What will eternal darkness feel like?”
Ianto pressed his lips to the cold glass and ... just for a moment... he could imagine feeling jack’s warm skin and his tickling breath.
“You’re so brave... the darkness... won’t know what’s hit it” he murmured earning him a slight chuckled from the face behind the glass.
“That’s the first time I’ve laughed ... since... since you died” Jack admitted.
Ianto smiled a weak smile, “Well we can’t have that ... I’ll have to make you laugh some more”.
Ianto stayed there for... he didn’t know how long. All he knew was that he didn’t want to leave. He would stay until jack died. 'I've missed you Ianto,' Jack would murmur every now and again.
One day, though, it all ended. Jack finally slipped away. The day the Doctor came. Ianto had never met the... Well, he had many names... the Destroyer, the Oncoming Storm, the Curse upon Humanity, but to Ianto knew him as the Doctor because ... that’s who he had always been to Jack.
The Doctor swept in, his coat billowing behind him. Ianto was shaken from his light sleep as the sheer light of the man blinded him.
“Who’s this then?”
Ianto stood shakily and held out a hand “Ianto Jones...” he said gruffly.
The doctor shook his hand enthusiastically with a grin.
“Oohhh Ianto Jones! Great name! Welsh, is it?”
Ianto nodded stiffly, he had heard the rumours ... all of them... when the Doctor came to visit, the immortal would die one last time. Ianto was torn... He would lose jack today but... Jack’s suffering would end today.
“So.. how do you know the Face of Boe?” The doctor questioned making his way towards the glass case.
Ianto followed him looking at the Doctor with a puzzled expression, surely he had heard the rumours. But one look into Jack’s eyes told him that no, it wasn’t the Doctor's time to know yet.
“Used to be friends... a long time ago ... Close friends,” he murmured wistfully.
The doctor chuckled. “Probably not as long ago for this fellah”.
Ianto forced a laugh “No... you’re probably right,” he murmured.
Tears streamed down Ianto’s face. It was nearly the end. Jack uttered his last words to the Doctor 'You Are Not Alone'. He may have been talking to the Doctor but he was looking at Ianto ... And Ianto knew it was a message to him too.
Something strange happened that day. Ianto felt his eyes become heavy as Jack’s eyes began to slide shut. He stumbled to the side losing his balance from where he had been squatting beside his past and present love, the concerned mumbles of 'what’s wrong?' And 'are you okay' we’re drowned out by a shrill buzzing.
The darkness...
It was coming ...
Forever but...
It was nice...
It was peaceful...
It wasn’t scary...
He would be with Jack.
You see, dear Reader, in the ancient words of ancient race millions of years in the past, there was a phrase.
A prophecy.
It was not 'When the Doctor comes to visit, the immortal will die one last time.' but rather, 'When the Doctor comes to visit, the immortals will die one last time. Together at last, in a peaceful harmony'.
The Doctor understood later on who Ianto jones really was, and why he had not left the Face of Boe’s side.
Ianto Jones seemed to be all Jack could talk about as they travelled and ran after the Master, it was unsettling for the Doctor to see Jack so blindly in love but... it suited him, he thought. Jack had turned to him before he rushed off to his Welshman.
"The face of Boe they called me," Jack grinned before striding off into some adventure.
“Ianto Jones... the faithful coffee boy,” the Doctor murmured as he watched jack disappear... Hopefully not for the last time. For him anyway. The doctor had handed Jack the name of a young midshipman before he regenerated, ‘Alonso’. He didn’t want anything to happen between them, he knew jack was still upset about the ‘death’ of his young welsh lover but he knew the man needed to talk. Jack had a long wait ahead of him until he saw his Ianto again... and the doctor would be damned if he didn’t try to make it a happy expectation.