Title: In A Little While
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 25fluffyfics
Prompt: 1, Picnic
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.

***

Ianto leaned back on the blanket he and the Doctor had spread out on the ground, propping himself up on his elbows as he looked up at the blue sky above them with a smile. It seemed so long since they'd done this, with nothing to darken their day.

Well, they did have darker thoughts that would inevitably crowd into their lives, but for the moment, he and the Time Lord could take some time to enjoy themselves, and to feel that they'd been granted at least some sort of small reprieve.

It was lovely to be able to stretch out on a blanket under the evergreen trees, to feel the soft breeze on his skin, and to know that he would have much, much longer than he'd ever have dreamed of to enjoy living this life. A life that he didn't want to lose.

He was slowly becoming accustomed to the idea that he was now immortal; it had felt strange at first, as though he was trying to fit into someone else's skin, lead another person's life. But this wasn't anyone else's life. It was his, the life he'd been gifted with.

A life that he wanted to lead by the Doctor's side, no matter how much danger that might put him in at any given time. The Doctor was his soul mate, his chosen one, the man he'd bonded with. And at some point, the two of them would even have a human wedding.

They'd have to, if only for their friends at Torchwood, he thought, tilting his face up to the sun and closing his eyes. Tosh had practically made him promise that the two of them would have a ceremony that the team could witness, some sort of celebration.

Having a picnic qualified as a private celebration for the two of them, didn't it? Of course it did, Ianto told himself, answering his own question. This was something they hadn't done in quite some time, and he intended to enjoy every moment of it.

They'd already eaten, and the Doctor had gone back into the Tardis to carry the plates and glasses back to the kitchen. He should be coming back out in just another moment, Ianto thought, glancing at the door fo the ship and expecting to see his lover bounding out.

He got his wish just a few moments later, though the Time Lord wasn't exactly bounding. He was ambling, really, hands in his pockets, looking thoughtful as he crossed the lush green grass to sit down on the blanket next to the younger man.

"You look awfully pensive, love," Ianto told him, his voice soft, trying to make his words less of a question and more of a statement. "Is something bothering you that I should know about, or are you just having a hard time focusing on anything but the last few days?"

The Doctor started to shake his head, then sighed and nodded slowly. "You're right about that, Ianto," he said, his voice soft and slightly regretful. "I have so many questions about everything that's happened, questions that I won't get an answer to."

"So do I, Doctor." Ianto couldn't keep the edge of worry out of his own voice; those questions were in the forefront of his mind, no matter how hard he tried to push them away. "But we won't get any answers. We'll just have to find them by ourselves."

"I hope we're capable of doing that, love." The Doctor leaned forward to pick an imaginary piece of lint from his jeans, and Ianto caught his hand as he did so, twining their fingers together and squeezing his lover's hand gently. "I don't want either of us to get hurt."

"We're both good at stumbling into trouble when we don't know exactly what we're dealing with, aren't we?" Ianto said. He wanted to heave a sigh, but held himself back from it; the Doctor had enough worries on his mind without him adding to them.

"We certainly are," the Doctor agreed with a wry smile. "I've been doing it for centuries, so I've definitely had enough practice with it." He leaned against his young lover, resting his head on Ianto's shoulder. "I'd just like to be able to avoid trouble, at least for a while."

"It feels like we got into enough trouble with everything that happened at the Hub," Ianto said, disentangling his fingers from the Doctor's and sliding his arms around the Time Lord's slender waist. "That was enough excitement to last me for a very long time."

"I couldn't agree more." The Doctor lifted his head from Ianto's shoulder, gazing at the man he loved. "I'd like to think that we aren't going to run into that kind of trouble again for a while, but with the Master, you know that there are never any guarantees."

Ianto nodded, unable to keep himself from sighing. "I know all too well. Especially if he's found out what's happened to us. I don't believe for a moment that this was what he wanted. He was trying to force you into a regeneration -- and he was trying to kill me."

The Doctor shivered, moving closer to Ianto in spite of the warmth of the sun shining down on them. Ianto tightened his arm around his lover's waist; he was almost sorry that he'd brought up the topic. He didn't want the Doctor to feel threatened. Not here.

He could understand why his lover would feel that way. He himself found it hard to shake the feeling that the Master was still watching them, enraged that his plan hadn't worked, just waiting for the next time that he could spring out them when they didn't expect him.

But that wasn't something he wanted to think about now. Maybe it was dangerous to turn his back on the possibility that the Master was tracking them even now, but they needed this time to themselves. They need to feel that they were safe, if only for a short while.

"Let's try to put that behind us, shall we?" Ianto said softly, hoping that he could manage to turn the Time Lord's mind away from all that had so recently taken place, at least for a little while. "I think we should try to enjoy this time, not brood about what might be coming."

The Doctor nodded, leaning back against his lover and smiling as Ianto pulled him closer. "You're right," he said, looking up at the brilliant blue sky, the bright sun shining all around them, and the deep green peacefulness of the forest glade. "We need a bit of time to unwind."

"In a little while, we might not have this kind of time to ourselves," Ianto pointed out, brushing his lips gently across the Doctor's hair. "We could jump back into situations that won't let us have any peace for a while. I want to enjoy this while we have it."

"So do I," the Doctor said, his voice sounding a little dreamy and faraway. "We've had too little of times like this since we first met, haven't we? There was always something standing in the way, or a black cloud looming in the back of our minds."

Ianto raised a hand to run gentle fingers through the Doctor's hair, nodding in agreement. "We always had the thought in our minds, even if we didn't want to acknowledge it, that we wouldn't have as much time together as we wanted. We always thought it would be finite."

"Things have changed so much now," the Time Lord whispered, looking up at Ianto, their gazes locking. "No regeneration, no death. It's like a dream come true, isn't it, love? There could be a price to pay -- but for the moment, I'm willing to push that aside."

"So am I," Ianto said, a smile starting to spread across his features. "We're not finite, Doctor. It might seem too good to be true, but what we've been given is a gift. And we need to try to enjoy that gift as much as we can, and thank fate for being good to us."

"In a little while, we may not feel as though we want to thank fate," the Doctor cautioned him, looking up at the sun and squinting. "So we may as well be grateful for what we have while we still feel that way. Though I hope we'll be feeling that gratitude for a long time to come."

"So do I, Doctor. So do I," Ianto murmured, bowing his head to brush his lips against the softness of the Time Lord's mouth. As their lips met, he hoped that he was wrong, and that it would be quite a long while before the two of them had to worry about being caught in a bad situation again.

***