Title: Not Alone
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: 1, 50scenes
Prompt: 23, Alone
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 hurried up the stairs to his flat, pulling back the sleeve of his coat and checking his watch as he went. He'd been a bit late getting away from the Torchwood office today, and he knew that the Doctor would be worried about where he was.

It was a little strange to still be considered a part of Torchwood, even though he spent most of his time with the Doctor these days, accompanying him in the Tardis whenever he felt the need to be off into the reaches of time and space. He hadn't expected Jack to actually let him retain his status at his job, but he had.

When Ianto had asked why, Jack had only replied that he was too valuable a team member to lose -- and Ianto wasn't sure if he was flattered or worried by those words.

He didn't want to feel obligated to Torchwood in any way, if it ever came down to his having to make a deicsion about whether he should stay with the team or go with the Doctor. Of course, he knew what he would decide if things ever came down to him having to make that choice.

He'd go with his lover, of course. Torchwood and his teammates were a huge part of his life; they'd gotten him through some very difficult times, and they'd been there when he'd needed them. He owed them a great deal, and he'd never deny that.

But the Doctor was his soul mate, the man he loved, his destiny. He could no more refute that destiny than he could rip his heart out and still survive. Leaving the Doctor, letting the Time Lord go off into time and space without him, would be even worse than tearing his heart out. It would destroy him.

And he would never do it, Ianto told himself, reaching for his keys as he approached the door to his flat. Jack and the others should know that he would never forsake the man he loved, not for any reason.

Besides, the Doctor hated to be alone, and Ianto didn't blame him. The Time Lord had spent far too much of his many lives shrouded in loneliness; Ianto suspected that there was still a part of him that felt that loneliness much too acutely, even though he had a lover now.

He'd told the Doctor that he was more than welcome to be at Torchwood while he was working, and Jack had echoed him, telling the Time Lord that they'd appreciate having him around. But so far, the Doctor hadn't availed himself of that invitation, and Ianto didn't want to question him as to why.

There were too many things that he didn't dare ask the Time Lord, Ianto thought as he unlocked the door and swung it open, stepping into the small foyer and closing the door behind him. But he didn't feel that it was right to pry -- when the Doctor was ready to talk about those things, he would.

Until then, he would keep his questions to himself -- or he would wait for what seemed like an opportune time to ask them, a time when they wouldn't seem to come out of the blue.

He smiled as he walked into the living room and saw the Doctor curled up on one side of the couch, looking unlike himself in jeans and a sweater. He'd grown so used to seeing the Doctor in his habitual suits that it was a bit of a surprise to see the Time Lord dressed in anything else.

"You're late," the Doctor said softly, looking immensely relieved to see Ianto. "I was starting to get worried. I wish you'd call when you're not going to be here on time." He shook his head, a small smile crossing his features as he looked down at his hands. "Listen to me. I sound like a scolding wife."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Ianto said, sitting down beside the Doctor and tugging at his tie to loosen it. "I should have called you, I know. I didn't mean to make you worry -- I was busy with some paperwork, and I didn't realise that it was so late. I'll try to keep better track of time."

"That should be my area of expertise, shouldn't it?" the Doctor told him, another small smile curving his lips. "I'm a Time Lord. I shouldn't be so worried at the passing of time. But when you're away from me ...." He let the sentence dangle in the air, unfinished, as though waiting for Ianto to say something more.

"I know you don't like to be alone," Ianto began, cautiously, wondering just how to phrase what he wanted to say. "But you could always come to the office with me -- Jack has said you're more than welcome there."

The Doctor shook his head emphatically. "No, Ianto, I don't think that's a good idea. I know that Jack has said he wouldn't mind my being there with you -- and I'm sure that he wouldn't, if my stay was brief -- but I have a way of getting on his nerves that would have us at each other's throats before long."

"I suppose I can understand that," Ianto said with a sigh. It didn't really bother him that Jack and the Doctor had been lovers -- after all, that was long before his own relationship with the Time Lord had come into being -- but he always felt a bit tense himself when the two men were around each other.

"Jack and I .... have a long history behind us, Ianto," the Doctor sighed, resting his head against the couch cushion and looking up at his young lover. "It's all in the past, but there are unresolved issues between us that are better left out of his workplace. Torchwood isn't really somewhere I belong."

"At least not on a permanent basis," Ianto agreed, reaching out for the Doctor's hand. "Besides, I have to admit -- I always feel a bit jealous when you're around Jack. The way he looks at you ...."

"There's nothing in those looks, Ianto," the Doctor told him, his voice soft, a slight frown forming between his brows. "We were lovers at one time .... but that's long since past. You were involved with him, too -- and I'm sure you don't feel that there's anything in the way he looks at you."

"Of course not," Ianto answered, surprised that the Doctor would mention such a thing. "Even when he was with me, I always had the feeling that he was still in love with you." He looked down quickly, embarrassed that he'd even mentioned that to the Doctor. He'd meant to keep that suspicion to himself.

The Doctor shook his head, his fingers twining through Ianto's, squeezing his lover's hand gently. "I think you're wrong, Ianto. Those feelings were gone a long time ago -- both for myself and for Jack. I seriously doubt they still linger for him as anything more than friendship."

"He gave up any right he had to you when he left you alone," Ianto murmured, his fingers tightening around the slender hand he held in his own. Too many people had left the Doctor alone -- his lovers, his companions. He wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to be one of those people who left.

"I'm not alone now," the Time Lord whispered, his gaze meeting Ianto's. "I think I've finally found the one person who'll stay with me through everything."

"You have," the young man answered, his voice soft, the words coming out around a sudden lump in his throat. "I know that I can't give you forever, Doctor -- but I'll give you as long as I have. When I say that I'll never leave -- I mean it."

"I know you do," the Doctor said, his own voice so soft that Ianto almost had to strain to hear his words. "I can't tell you how much that means to me, Ianto. I've always been afraid of being alone, even though I've tried not to show it. Having you with me takes away that fear."

"That's what I'm here for, love," Ianto murmured, raising the Doctor's hand to his lips and brushing a kiss across his palm. "To protect you and take away your fears. To keep you safe .... and to love you. You won't have to fear being alone as long as I'm around."

"Being alone for a day doesn't seem so bad -- not when I know you're going to be coming home to me at the end of the day," the Doctor said, smiling and moving closer to Ianto on the couch. "And now that you're home, I think we could do with spending the rest of the evening together."

"I can definitely agree to that," Ianto murmured, bowing his head to press his lips against the softness of the Time Lord's mouth. "After all, I need to work on convincing you that you aren't alone."

"I think you've convinced me of that already," the Doctor sighed as Ianto pressed him down against the couch cushions. Within a few moments, the two of them were lost in each other, sinking into a world of their own making populated only by the two of them.

Alone was certainly the last thing either of them would be feeling for a while.

***