Title: Part of Me
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 10_prompts
Prompt: 10, Scarred
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 stood looking out of the door of the Tardis, waiting for Ianto to join him before he went outside. This was a place that he wanted to share with Ianto, a tropical garden of sorts, and he wanted them to take their first steps out into it together.

This had been somewhere that he'd always come on his own; he'd discovered it on one of the occasions when he was alone and not traveling with a companion, and he'd always felt that he wanted to keep it to himself. He'd never brought anyone else here.

But Ianto was much, much more than a companion. Ianto was his soul mate, the man he'd bonded with. It made perfect sense to bring him here; this was a place where they could meld their souls even more closely in harmony with each other.

It was also a place that he came when he felt that he needed to soothe himself, to calm the turmoil that could sometimes tear at his soul. It had always restored his inner balance, made him feel more at peace with himself and with the world around him.

This place had always soothed his troubled soul, smoothed over the inner scars that he always carried with him. He hoped that it still had the ability to do that -- and that it might be able to do that same for Ianto, as well, if he had need of it.

The Doctor half-turned as he felt the presence of the other man behind him, smiling as Ianto's strong arms slid around his waist and pulled him close. He leaned back into that embrace, closing his eyes for a moment and reveling in his lover's presence.

"This is beautiful," Ianto murmured, soft lips brushing the Doctor's cheek. "Why haven't we come here before? Is it some place that you wanted to keep to yourself, or had you just forgotten about it until now? It seems really peaceful."

"It is," the Doctor told him, his lips curving in a smile. "And no, I didn't forget about this place. You're the first person I've brought here, Ianto. I was saving it for a time when I felt that we both might need the calm and quiet to .... heal our respective scars, so to speak."

"Why do I have the feeling that you've had to do that more than you might want to admit?" Ianto said softly, his arms tightening around the Doctor's waist. "You don't seem scarred to me, love. You never have. But I know that you have inner scars that don't show on the outside."

The Doctor sighed softly, nodding; Ianto had literally hit the nail on the head with that pronouncement. "I wish those scars weren't there, but they are -- and this is one of the places I come to when I feel that they need to be soothed," he murmured, closing his eyes.

The peace and tranquillity of their surroundings were already seeping into his psyche, and they hadn't even left the shelter of the Tardis yet. This place had always been able to make him feel calm; other places did as well, but this one was special.

This was the place he had always run to after the worst of his encounters with the Master, the place where he had felt that he could cleanse himself of the humiliation and pain that the renegade Time Lord had inflicted upon him. It had been his haven for quite a while.

It was a good thing that the worst of his scars didn't show on the outside, the Doctor thought, sighing again. If they did, there was probably a good chance that Ianto would have been repulsed by them -- and that the young man wouldn't be here by his side today.

No, that was ridiculous thought, he chided himself a moment later. Ianto wasn't attracted to him merely because of how he looked; if that had been the case, they would have already parted ways. Ianto loved him, regardless of how many scars he might bear.

"No scars you have could possibly matter to me," Ianto told him, breaking into his thoughts with those soft words. The Doctor's dark eyes widened as his lover spoke; Ianto's words seemed to be following the very path his own thoughts were taking.

"It's a good thing that a Time Lord's body heals quickly and doesn't leave permanent scars," the Doctor told him, shaking his head. "If it didn't -- well, I wouldn't be very appealing to look at without my clothes on. I doubt you'd be attracted to that."

"Even if you had a lot of visible scars, I would still love you," Ianto told him, his voice strong and certain. "A few scars aren't going to affect how I feel about someone, Doctor. And the brand didn't bother me, did it?" he added, his hand resting on the Time Lord's hip.

The Doctor winced at the thought; he'd been sure that the fleur-de-lys that the Master had branded him with would make Ianto cringe. It wasn't large, or even unsightly -- but he'd always had the feeling that the mark somehow made him less attractive.

But to Ianto, it didn't. Ianto accepted him exactly the way he was -- inner and outer scars, all of it. Those scars were a part of what made him the person he was -- the person who Ianto had fallen in love with. If he was physically any different, Ianto might not have been able to love him.

"No, it didn't," he admitted, turning in his boyfriend's embrace to slide his arms around Ianto's waist. "I'm being far too paranoid, aren't I? I know that you're with me because you love me, and that the various ways that I'm scarred don't matter to you."

"I have my own scars, you know," Ianto said softly, leaning forward to brush a gentle kiss across the Doctor's lips. "Some of them you can't see, some of them you can. And you love me in spite of them. So I'm not going to pull away from yours."

"This is a place that can make those scars seem less intimidating," the Doctor told him, turning around and making a sweeping gesture to indicate the lush greenery that waited for them outside the Tardis. "It's the perfect place to relax. And it'll be even more so now that you're with me."

"I'm flattered that you wanted to share this with me," Ianto whispered, his blue-grey gaze locking with the Doctor's. "It's always hard to give up the places that resonate within your soul to an outside person. It's proof of how much you care for me that you could bring me here."

"You belong here with me, Ianto," the Doctor said softly, raising a hand to place it on Ianto's cheek, his fingers stroking over the young man's soft skin. "You're the only person I know who I think will be able to appreciate it in the same way that I do."

"I don't just belong here, Doctor," Ianto told him, his voice quiet, but his tone resolute. "I belong with you, no matter where you are. Where you go, I go. You're a part of me, scars and all, and I'm not going to let you go or leave you behind. Not ever."

"That's good to know," the Doctor murmured, taking Ianto's hand and leading him out into the tropical wonderland that awaited them. He could already feel his spirits lifting, the inward scars retreating -- and he was sure that Ianto was feeling the same.

***