Title: No Ordinary Love
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: R
Table: 2, 10_hurt_comfort
Prompt: 01, Love
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.

***

The Doctor sighed softly, wincing as he turned his head to the side to look at Ianto lying next to him. The young man frowned, reaching out to brush a few strands of the Time Lord's tawny hair back from his pale face, looking anxiously at him.

"Are you all right, love?" Ianto asked him, his soft fingers trailing down the Doctor's cheek. "You look better than you did a few hours ago," he murmured, his blue-grey eyes taking in the grimace on the Time Lord's features. "But I know you haven't recovered yet."

The Doctor shook his head, raising a hand to press it against his temple. "No, not yet, but it won't take too long for me to be back in good shape," he told Ianto, his voice a rasp. "Can you hand me that glass of water, sweetheart?"

Ianto did so, holding the glass to the Doctor's lips. The Time Lord raised his head, taking a few sips of water before sinking back down on the pillows with an exhausted sigh.

"If you hadn't been here, I would have died out there," he whispered, his dark eyes meeting Ianto's. "Thank you. love. That's not a very adequate way for me to express myself, but I'm too tired to think of any other words right now."

"No thanks needed," Ianto murmured, pulling the Doctor closer against his own body and cradling the slender Time Lord in his arms. "You know I'd do anything for you -- after all, what's a companion for, if not to have your back when you need them?"

"You're much more than a companion, love. You know that," the Doctor told him, his gaze holding Ianto's. "I think the fact that we're bonded as much more than mere companions is what gave you the strength to get me out of there."

Ianto nodded, agreeing with his lover. "Even if I was only your companion, I would still give my life to save you," he said softly, leaning down to press his lips against the Doctor's cheek. "You mean more to me than anything in the world, Doctor."

"I know," the Doctor murmured, resting his head against Ianto's shoulder. "The bond between us is miraculous, isn't it? I've been close to people before, but never in the way that I am with you."

"Saying 'I love you' never seems like quite enough," Ianto said, his fingers closing over the Time Lord's hand. "It's not just a bond, Doctor -- and it's more than love. It's an emotion that goes right to my soul. I don't think there's been a word created for what we have."

"It's no ordinary love that we share, Ianto," the Doctor told him, his dark eyes serious. "If I hadn't felt the strength of that bond, I'd be hesitant to admit that it actually exists. But I know how closely it brings us together, and how intense it is."

"I've always thought that love was the strongest emotion that anyone could feel," Ianto mused as he pulled the covers up around the two of them. "But what I share with you goes deeper than love. I don't really know how to put it into words. I don't think I can."

"Love is among the strongest emotions that people can feel," the Doctor corrected him. "There are others that are just as strong, but at different times. Though I do believe that emotions can combine with each other and become even stronger when they're mingled."

"Oh?" Ianto raised his eyebrows in question, wondering just what the Time Lord meant. "Do you care to explain that theory?"

He knew that this probably wasn't the right time to expect the Doctor to talk a lot; he was already exhausted, and Ianto didn't want to tire him any further. If the Time Lord showed any signs of fatigue, he'd insist that the other man try to rest, he told himself firmly.

But he really did want to hear what his lover had to say, and the Doctor seemed as though he was ready to expound on his words. Ianto settled more comfortably onto the pillows, hugging the Doctor more closely against him as he waited for his lover to speak.

"When you were trying to rescue me, your fear of what could happen and your love for me combined with each other -- and I think they made a much more powerful emotion within you that we don't have a name for," the Doctor told him, his fingers twining through Ianto's.

Ianto nodded slowly, thinking back to those moments when he'd been sure that he was going to fail in his appointed task, and that he would have to watch the man he loved die before his eyes. The emotion he'd felt then certainly hadn't been something he could put into words.

Love? Of course love had been a large part of what he'd felt; it had seemed as though his heart had wanted to jump out of his chest and speed its way straight to the Doctor.

Fear? No, it had been much more than fear. He'd felt that before, and he knew what it was like. Fear had been a component of his emotions, but they'd gone far beyond just fear. Maybe the Doctor was right, and they been a combination of too many emotions to name.

And the Doctor was right about something else, he reflected. The love they shared was certainly out of the ordinary; he'd thought that he had loved before, but until he met this man, he'd never really known the meaning of the word.

Love wasn't an emotion that he should think of in a selfish way; it wasn't given to him just to make him feel good. It was selfless, focused towards the person he loved. He'd never really felt that with Jack, or Lisa, or anyone else he'd thought he cared deeply for.

Yes, he'd loved them, in a way. But that love had been turned inward towards himself; his love for Jack had been one of discovery, of exploration, of finding out who he himself really was. He'd cared for Jack, but that hadn't been real love.

With Lisa, he'd wanted to save her, to bring her back to what she'd been before. But if he was honest with himself, he'd wanted that transformation more for himself than for her.

The love that he felt for the Doctor wasn't turned inward; his entire focus was on the man he loved, making him happy, protecting him, doing as much as he could for the Time Lord. And if he found his own happiness along the way -- well then, so much the better.

Really, it made him happy to see the Doctor smiling and content. It was the first time in his life that he'd experienced a feeling of complete and utter joy, knowing that he completed the other man's life and made a difference for the Doctor.

That was what love really was, Ianto thought to himself, a small smile curving his lips. It wasn't about how he himself felt, but about making sure that the person he loved was happy. If that love was real, then his own happiness came from giving it, not receiving.

"What are you thinking about?" the Doctor murmured, raising his hand to stroke Ianto's cheek. "You look rather serious, but there's that little bit of a smile on your face that makes me think you might be planning some sort of mischief."

"I was thinking that you're right," Ianto whispered, smiling at the Time Lord as their gazes met. "That what we share is certainly no ordinary love. And that I'm grateful for it."

"There's nothing ordinary about you, love," the Doctor whispered, "and nothing ordinary about anything in our lives. You can make even the most mundane moments seem like the most special times of my life -- just because I'm sharing them with you."

As he lowered his head to brush his lips against the softness of the Doctor's mouth, Ianto couldn't help but agree with the Time Lord. Nothing about them was ordinary, and he was glad of it. He wouldn't trade the life they lived for any other that he could possibly have.

And he wouldn't trade the love that he shared with this man for anything else in the world. That love filled every fiber of his being, overwhelming him and spilling over into every aspect of his life, the most extraordinary feeling that he'd ever known -- a feeling that he never wanted to lose.

***