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Ianto was the member of Torchwood Three who knew about Jack’s immortality the longest – other than Jack himself, of course.
As Yvonne’s PA, Ianto had a remarkably high security clearance – a security clearance that was never revoked. He also had access to Yvonne while she was on the phone with other Torchwood higher-ups, including Jack, and he caught enough excerpts of conversations to piece a few things together.
He had been with Torchwood the second longest after Tosh – again, other than Jack – but had a higher clearance than both her and Owen, Jack’s supposed second-in-command.
It’s not that he used it, really. He didn’t need to. Most of Jack’s files were heavily redacted permanently, so not even Jack himself could get into them, but nothing more than the most basic of Torchwood clearances was required to see the files were there.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out Jack had been around a lot longer than he led on.
Still, There was a difference between knowing it and seeing it, and an even greater difference to being the cause of it.
Ianto might not have been the one to pull the trigger, but he was certainly responsible for the gun going off.
Jack came back with a gasp, and while Gwen screamed and Owen fell back, Ianto stood and watched, suddenly understanding everything.
He knew Jack hadn’t meant what he said, simply tried to get them all to back down. He practically dragged Jack around to watch the consequences of their actions unfold. When Jack left with Gwen, Ianto knew better than to be jealous.
And then Jack was dead again.
It was all so new, for all of them. Ianto had put Jack in the body bag himself, felt his cold skin, saw his unmoving chest. When Gwen said he couldn’t die and Owen said he clearly had, Ianto didn’t know what to do with himself.
There was all that evidence of his long, long life, all the files clearly hiding his immortality, and yet, here he was, lying as dead as any of the bodies in the morgue.
It was almost ironic. Ianto would have laughed if he didn’t so desperately want to cry.
He tried to move on. Jack would either wake, or he wouldn’t. It’s not like they were together, or anything. Ianto didn’t even like him. Not really. He wouldn’t have let Owen shoot him if he didn’t at least somewhat hold a grudge against him; at least, that’s what he tried to tell himself. He didn’t think about how he fell to his knees beside Jack’s body, how he longed to hold him close and wait for him to wake up.
After a full 24 hours, Ianto began doubting Jack would revive. So far, from every minute piece of information he had managed to gather, Jack’s deaths never lasted this long. Then again, none of them had been supernatural in nature.
And if none of them had ever been supernatural in nature, who’s to say that kind of death couldn’t kill him permanently? Then again, who’s to say how long it could take him to revive from that?
By 48 hours, Ianto stopped doubting.
Gwen was still sitting at Jack’s side. Ianto kept an eye on them over the CCTV, and he noticed Tosh and Owen checking every once in a while, too. But there was no sign that Jack would wake.
By 60 hours Ianto started mourning.
Clean-up of the Hub was well underway, and while the coffee machine was still out of commission the rest of the Hub was mostly salvageable.
It felt unbearably empty.
At 72 hours, Ianto entered Jack’s office, held his coat close, and began putting Jack’s things away.
An hour later, Jack woke up.