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Jack grabbed hold of Ianto’s shoulders, turning him to look at him. “We’ve got to get you out of here. I can survive anything, but you can’t.” Jack looked to Ianto desperately.
“Too late,” Ianto said, unmoving, and Jack was certain he felt his heart drop. He could hear Ianto taking a quick, panicked breath. “I breathed the air.”
“There’s gotta be something. There’s gotta be an antidote.” Jack could feel tears building in his eyes. This was not the end! Not if he had anything to say about it.
“You said you would fight,” Jack heard the aliens say behind him.
Jack looked between the tank and Ianto, then to the tank again, turning to face it. “Then I take it back, alright? I take it all back, but not him!” He raised his voice on that last part. Cause he couldn’t- Jack couldn’t-
He started to hear Ianto begin to collapse and turned around. “No! No, no, no, no no. No!” Jack caught the man before his head hit the ground. He knelt down, holding him in his arms. “No, Ianto. No.” The captain looked down at Ianto, the man looking paler by the second, wanting more than anything for this to just be another one of his nightmares.
Jack just cradled Ianto in his lap, looking down at his face. The face that was growing weaker. Because of him. If he hadn’t been so obedient and cold back then, then none of this would have happened. But Jack was. And now because this team, this family, he was changed for the better. It made him care again, made him do what was right.
“It’s all my fault.” It was. But now Jack was losing everyone.
Again.
“No it’s not,” Ianto disagreed, eyes never leaving Jack’s.
“Don’t speak, save your breath.” Jack caressed Ianto’s cheek. Jack couldn’t understand the look of belief on Ianto’s face. Here he was, dying, and Ianto believed his own words. How could he believe that?
But… that was what Ianto was. He saw the best in people. Ianto saw the good in Jack that he couldn’t see anymore. He can’t- Ianto can’t-
“I love you, I-“ Ianto’s voice broke when he spoke, and Jack saw the tears building faster in the man’s eyes.
Jack stared down at him, his head starting to shake as his vision was beginning to cloud. “Don’t.” Don’t say those words. Don’t- He couldn’t hear them only to never hear them again. Cause he wouldn’t. A tear drop formed in his left eye, but Jack never looked away from Ianto. Never turned his gaze. Never should have before.
But then Ianto’s eyes shut, his head starting to fall back.
“Ianto? Ianto.” He whispered his name, as if he spoke any louder and he’d be gone. “Ianto, stay with me. Ianto, stay with me, please.” Shaking Ianto’s head, Jack continued to plead. “Stay with me! Stay with me, please. Please.” His voice cracked, the sobs he was holding back bleeding through.
Ianto’s eyes opened then, looking around before they found Jack’s again. Staring at one another, Jack’s breathing began to pick up into panic.
“Hey… It was good, yeah?” Ianto was dying and he was still taking care of Jack. Calming him down.
“Yeah.” The tear falls from his eye. Because it was good. Almost too good to be true and yet too good to let go.
But then Jack’s heart breaks even more, watching Ianto’s face transform into one of fear and sadness. “Don’t forget me.” His voice pleading, begging. Ianto was scared.
Jack tried to hold it together, putting a strained smile on his face for Ianto. “Never could,” he told him, shaking his head.
“A thousand years time…” Ianto continued, taking a breath.
Jack takes a deep breath, knowing what Ianto’s about to say.
“You won’t remember me.”
Jack couldn’t take the way Ianto’s voice broke, knowing that’s what he believed too. Believed that he was just a blip in time for Jack. But he wasn’t. The immortal man didn’t want Ianto to be.
“Yes, I will.” Jack pulls Ianto closer, getting a better grip as he feels the toxin start to affect him now. But he pulled back to the surface, never looking away from Ianto. “I promise. I will.”
Ianto was looking up at Jack, but his head started to loll before it tipped back again, mouth opening and eyes shutting.
“Ianto. Ianto?” Jack’s voice was full of fear, but he knew. He knew, but he didn’t want it to be true. “Don’t go…” He can’t- “Don’t leave me, please. Please don’t.”
“You will die. And tomorrow your people will deliver the children,” the alien spoke.
Jack looks up at the take, anger and grief burning behind his eyes. But he doesn’t let go of Ianto, rocking him slowly. He then looks back down, feeling the toxin find a strong grip in his body. Looking at Ianto’s still expression, he uses the last of his strength to lean down, pressing a kiss the man’s unmoving lips. Just one last time. Because before his kiss brought him life, so maybe it’ll do it again.
Then Jack lets go, his body falling down beside Ianto’s, once again dead.