Title: Fait Accompli
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 50scenes
Prompt: 29, Elope
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own Ianto Jones or the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

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"What would you do if I asked you to marry me?"

The Doctor's dark eyes opened wide; he raised his head from Ianto's chest and blinked up at his lover, his mouth falling open in surprise. "What brought that on?" he asked, his voice sounding as surprised as he looked.

Ianto laughed softly as he gazed down at the Time Lord, taking in the wide eyes and the astonished look on the Doctor's features. "It's a simple enough question, isn't it?" he asked, his blue-grey eyes sparkling. "I just wondered how you would react."

"Well ...." The Doctor tilted his head as he considered. "I'm not exactly sure. I'd probably have to think about it for a bit."

"You have to think about what you'd say if I proposed to you?" Ianto mock-pouted at the Time Lord, pretending to be offended. In reality, he wasn't; he knew that the Doctor was only joking with him, though he was curious as to what the other man would say.

"Well, it's not a question someone asks me every day!" the Doctor told him, propping himself up on one elbow and regarding the man lying beside him. "And it's not something that I could give you a quick answer for. There are a lot of things to consider."

"Such as?" Ianto raised his eyebrows, trying to suppress a smile. He couldn't quite do it; a dimple appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he gave in to the urge to laugh, reaching out to run a hand down the Doctor's bare arm. "You should probably tell me these things now, love, so I'll know what to expect when I do actually ask you."

"Were you thinking of asking?" The Doctor's voice was soft, a little breathless. Ianto couldn't help but wonder if the Time Lord actually thought that he would keep their relationship without getting down on one knee and popping the question.

Of course he was going to ask, he told himself, but this wasn't the time. He wanted to wait until they were so solidly established in their relationship that there would be no question of the Doctor saying yes -- and marrying him immediately.

He was making excuses. He knew it. He really should have already asked the Doctor to marry him; he really had no reason not to ask.

No reason other than the fact that he wasn't sure what the Time Lord would say, and he knew that he wasn't ready to deal with the thought of the other man turning him down. He wanted to be sure of an unqualified yes before he put his heart on the line.

"I've thought of asking ever since the first time we met," he said softly, taking the Doctor's thin hand in his own and raising it to his lips. "But I wonder what you'd do if I asked -- after all, like you've said, there are a lot of things to take into consideration."

The Doctor nodded, his dark eyes sparkling with merriment.

Ianto took that for a good sign; the Time Lord apparently wasn't taking him seriously, and he didn't want this to turn into any sort of worry for the other man. Better to keep the question on a lighthearted basis, rather than make the Doctor think he was serious.

"First of all, there's the problem of the ceremony. You're human, I'm Gallifreyan -- and I know that there are different traditional marriage ceremonies," the Doctor told him, his expression grave. But Ianto could hear the teasing note in his voice.

"Yes, and then there would be the problem of who to invite." Ianto mock-sighed, ticking people off on his fingers. "There's my mother, of course, even though convincing her to come wouldn't be easy. And various other people on Earth ...."

"There's Jack, of course, though he'd probably try to convince one -- or both -- of us to have sex with him in the vestibule of the church before we walked down the aisle," the Doctor said, laughing as he spoke the words.

That probably wasn't far from the truth, Ianto thought wryly, given how Jack had acted at one of the team members' wedding reception. But then, she'd been trying to fuck Jack for months, and he hadn't actually gone through with it. So maybe he'd behave himself. Though he certainly wasn't going to take that for granted; he knew Jack far too well.

"And the rest of the team -- even if I do think they'd probably spend most of their time bickering rather than being happy for us," he said dryly.

"Well, at least one of them would be annoyed at the fact that she didn't get a run at you before I snapped you up -- though she's already had her chance, and she's married now, so she's made her bed -- and she can happily lie in it," the Doctor replied.

"I wouldn't have touched her even if she'd tried to force me into it," Ianto said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "I wouldn't want someone who screws around indiscriminately --" he smiled ruefully as he corrected himself, ".... Jack being a notable exception."

"We both made that mistake," the Doctor told him, nodding. "You know, I think it would just be easier for us to elope and have a quiet little ceremony if he get married. Just the two of us, and not worry about what anyone else might think.'

"Presenting our friends with a fait accompli and eloping would probably end up being the best thing for us to do," Ianto agreed with a smile, reaching out to twine his fingers through the Time Lord's. "If they're not happy with it -- well, it's not their decision to make."

The Doctor laughed softly, snuggling close to him and resting his head on Ianto's chest. "And if we get married, they'll enough of a surprise to deal with. Imagine what finding out that they weren't invited to the wedding will do to them."

"What do you mean if?" Ianto asked him, running his fingers through the Time Lord's hair. "I have every confidence that you and I will be a married couple one day."

The Doctor raised his head to look at Ianto, those dark eyes once again wide with surprise. Ianto had to smile at the startled expression on his lover's face; the Doctor obviously hadn't expected to hear those words come from him.

"I have every intention of asking you to marry me," Ianto said softly, taking the Doctor's face between his hands and gazing into the other man's eyes. "I want to spend my life with you, Doctor -- as your husband. And I promise you that I'll ask, when I feel the time is right. And that time will come when you least expect it."

The Doctor nodded, blinking back tears and managing a smile.

"Just don't wait too long, Ianto," he whispered, raising one hand to place it over his lover's as it rested on his cheek. "I don't want to look back and have regrets that we waited too long because we thought we'd have more time."

"I don't intend to, love," Ianto told him, leaning forward to press a kiss to the Doctor's mouth. As he pulled the Time Lord into his arms, he made a mental note of the Doctor's words -- along with a firm resolution to pop a certain question before too much more time went by.

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