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The last few days had been a complete nightmare. First the Rift had started spitting out people from across history, including plague victims, which had been bad enough, but then to fix that problem, which Owen had caused while trying to get Jack and Tosh back from the past, they’d taken the advice of Bilis Manger and fully opened the Rift.
That had released a towering demon, which Jack had defeated by letting it drain all the life out of him, the excess life energy proving too much even for a monster taller than the highest building in Cardiff. As a result, Jack had spent three days lying dead in the morgue, most of the team sure that he was gone for good. Ianto had spent those three days alternately grieving for his lost lover and berating himself for siding with the rest of the team instead of stopping them the way Jack had asked him to. But then, against all odds, Jack had returned to life, and…
Ianto was happy, of course he was, but what happened next couldn’t help but sting. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Jack had just shaken his hand after reviving, or even hugged him like he did the rest of the team. But instead, he’d pulled Ianto into his arms and kissed him, long and slow, and everything they’d carefully concealed from their colleagues had suddenly been out in the open, impossible to deny…
Ianto had wanted to be angry with Jack for that, or would have been angry if the circumstances had been different, but after those three long, painful days and nights, it was such a relief to have him back, alive, if still a little pale, so he hadn’t said anything. And maybe that was why, a little while later, in Jack’s office, Jack had dared to say those three little words… Not ‘I love you’, but ‘I need you’, which was more than enough for Ianto, more than he’d ever expected to hear.
So then Ianto had gone to fetch coffee for the team, from a coffeeshop since the coffee machine had been a casualty of the ‘quake that had happened when Abaddon was released. Tosh and Owen had gone with him, mostly to grill him on his and Jack’s ‘relationship’, and when they’d arrived back at the Hub, Jack was… gone. Simply vanished.
The bastard had kissed him in front of everybody and then left! Apparently, he’d only needed Ianto until someone better had come along, then he’d skipped out when no one was looking. He hadn’t even cared enough to say goodbye, and… Yes, it stung; how could it not?
It wasn’t as if Ianto had ever expected declarations of undying love; that wasn’t Jack’s way, and anyway, how could he love anyone forever when he’d outlive everyone? Jack’s heart was destined to be broken over and over again, for the rest of time. Ianto hadn’t expected anything from Jack beyond what his lover was willing to give, but at the very least he’d thought he deserved to be treated with a modicum of respect, not just tossed aside like he’d suddenly outlived his usefulness.
And the worst part was the way everyone was looking at him now, with pity in their eyes and sympathetic smiles on their lips. Even Owen was holding his tongue, not making any tasteless remarks, as if he expected Ianto to fall apart like a teenage girl dumped by her first boyfriend. Well, if he was waiting for that, he was going to be disappointed, because Ianto was hurt, yes, but mostly he was angry. He had every right to be.
If, no, WHEN Jack came back, Ianto intended to give him a pointed lesson in common courtesy. And Jack would have to work his arse off to get back into his good graces, never mind his bed, because Ianto might not have much dignity left after everything he’d been through working for Torchwood, but he still had his self-respect, which was more than some of his colleagues could say.
Right now, though, he had the Hub to put back to rights, the coffee machine to repair, his regular chores to carry out, and then, when all that was done, he was going down to the firing range and shoot the shit out of a few targets, pretending they were his errant lover. Maybe that might make him feel marginally better.
He could feel sorry for himself later.
The End