Hope (Part 5)

[amythest_n_ice]

 

http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/16449.html
Link to Part 4

http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/23971.html
Link to Part 6

**********************************

 

Ianto was woken from a light doze by the man in his arms shifting restlessly.

 

“Jack?” He asked, cracking his eyes open.

 

“Sorry Yan, I wanted to go to the bathroom, but I was trying not to wake you.”

 

“It’s OK. Are you all right Jack?” Ianto asked as he moved his arms to let Jack get up.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, or I will be anyway.” Jack sighed, walking from the room.

 

When he wasn’t back ten minutes later, a concerned Ianto got up to see where he had got to. He found him sitting on the white tiled floor of the bathroom, his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them as he leaned against the wall beside the toilet.

 

“Jack, is something wrong? Do you feel ill?”

 

“No.” Jack said softly.

 

“Talk to me, please Jack.”

 

“Why aren’t you angry with me?”

 

“What? Do you want me to be angry with you?”

“No. I don’t know. You should be angry with me Ianto, I left, and when I came back I was so distant, and…………..”

 

“Jack, you don’t need to list your sins. Sure I was angry at you for going without saying a word, but I knew where you were, and all I want is to for you to be happy. That’s how much I love you.”

 

“But I don’t know if I can love you back the way you want me to Yan, and I love someone who is revolted by my very existence, how fucked up is that?”

 

Ianto wrapped an arm around Jack, pulling him against his body, and stroking his hair gently.

 

“I promise you Jack, no pressure from me. Whatever you want from me, whatever you need, whenever you need it. And I don’t think he is revolted by you, he just has some issues he needs to work through.”

 

Jack sighed and relaxed into Ianto’s touch, content to just sit there in silence for a while. Eventually Ianto kissed Jack’s temple and rubbed his shoulder briskly.

 

“Come on, I don’t know about you, but my arse is going numb sitting here,” he said. Jack barked a laugh, and shifted so that Ianto could get up, accepting the hand Ianto offered to help him to his feet.

 

“Actually I’m starved. I vote we raid the kitchen.” Jack grinned.

 

“What time is it? Are the others likely to still be around?”

 

“Martha will probably be asleep, but the Doctor never really sleeps, so he’ll more than likely be around somewhere. Why?”

“Do you feel up to seeing him?”

“Can’t avoid him forever Ianto. As big as the TARDIS is, she isn’t that big and there is no way in hell that I’m staying locked up in this gilded cage for the next few months.”

 

The kitchen was deserted when they got there, so they set about making themselves something to eat. They were sitting eating sandwiches and drinking tea when the Doctor came in.

 

“Oh, hello,” he said, startled.

 

“Hello, if you want us to go somewhere else…..” Jack started, but the Doctor cut him off.

 

“No, Rassilon, no, that’s not what I meant. I just thought you would both be asleep still.”

 

“No, we were ravenous.” Jack said.

 

“Oh, right. Uhm.” The Doctor dithered, clearly unsure whether he should stay or leave. Jack sighed and kicked out another chair at the table.

 

“The tea in the pot is fresh, and there are plenty of sandwiches.”

 

“You sure?” The Doctor said, shooting a quick look at Ianto, expecting to see another dark glare from the Welsh man. Ianto merely shrugged, his expression carefully neutral. He had promised Jack no pressure, and as far as he was concerned, that meant no antagonism with the Doctor either, which left Jack caught in the middle of them.

 

The Doctor hesitantly sat down, pouring some fresh tea into his cup and taking a sandwich. They sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, before Ianto snapped and broke it.

 

“So, are we heading anywhere in particular?” He asked the Doctor.

 

“Not at the moment, we’re just sitting in the vortex. I was actually wondering if there was anything you would particularly like to see?”

“Me? How would I know?” Ianto asked, startled.

 

“Most humans I ever met have had some idea what they would like to see if they could travel in space, or time. The TARDIS can do both.”

 

“I always wondered what a planet with more than one moon would look like, from the surface, you know.”

 

“Oh, that one is easy, now what was the name of that planet?” The Doctor mused, closing his eyes and tapping his fingertips against his chin as he tried to remember.

 

“You’re not thinking of Searexa Beta are you, the one with the violet grass and the…..”

 

“Ha, yes, that’s it. Brilliant Jack, brilliant.” The Doctor bounced in excitement, a huge grin splitting his face.

 

“Searexa Beta, yes that would be perfect, no hostile natives, and more than one moon, as well as breath taking scenery.”

 

“Or there’s Mortaxia.” Jack offered.

 

“Hmm, no, if I remember rightly, the natives there tried to kill us on sight, and I still can’t remember how or when I pissed them off.” The Doctor shuddered, and Jack laughed, remembering the exhilarating run through the forest, pursued by angry blue midgets with very big spears.

 

Ianto watched as they laughed, and offered and rejected potential destinations, the tension between them forgotten for the moment, and he wished for Jack’s sake that this relaxed camaraderie could last, but he knew it was unlikely. The Doctor and Jack had a lot of issues to work through, and Ianto suspected he would be offering a shoulder for Jack to cry on for a good while to come.

 

They eventually settled on the first suggestion, Searexa, and Ianto found himself being towed to the console room between two men who were both a great deal older than him, who were both acting like excited five year olds. The Doctor parked Ianto in front of a section of the console, and put his hand on a lever.

 

“Pull that when I tell you to. OK Jack, you know which panel is yours, and hang on tightly both of you.”

 

Ianto watched as Jack and the Doctor moved to different parts of the console and started flicking switches. The pitch of the rotor in the center of the console changed, and the Doctor nodded to Ianto.

 

“Now, if you would.”

 

Ianto pulled the lever, and seeing Jack brace his feet and grip the edge of the console, he did the same. He was glad of it a moment later when the ship pitched wildly, holding on for dear life.

 

“What was that?” He asked when the pitching stopped, and the rotor started to slow.

 

“Changing directions and time tracks in the vortex.” The Doctor explained, throwing another switch on his panel. The rotor stopped completely, and Ianto felt a slight thud through the soles of his feet.

 

“Well, we’ve landed. Through those doors, Ianto Jones, a whole other world awaits.”

 

“Now?” Ianto asked, suddenly nervous.

 

“It’s night time, and an equinox, all the moons are visible. No better time to see it.” The Doctor rubbed his hands as he threw the lever for the doors.

 

“Come on Yan,” Jack said, and Ianto found himself once more being towed between the two excitable men, out through the doors for his first ever footstep on an alien world.

 

Ianto felt his jaw drop as he looked up at the sky. Seven moons of varying sizes were strung across the sky like mismatched pearls. The light reflecting from them lit up the scenery in a silvered version of daylight, bleaching out all the colors, but leaving everything on the ground sharply visible. Trees waved on the horizon, in shades of black and grey, and twenty feet or so from where the TARDIS had landed, an inky black lake reflected the seven satellites above.

 

He felt a warm presence at his shoulder that his mind automatically identified as Jack from the faint scent of leather and wool. A warm puff of breath on his ear and a soft, familiar voice confirmed the identification.

 

“You OK Yan?” Jack asked.

 

“Yeah, it’s just……amazing.” Ianto breathed in awe.

 

The three of them sat in the sweet smelling grass, watching the moons dance across the sky until sunrise washed them out, the silence, for the moment, entirely comfortable.

 

tbc