Title: Protection
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: R
Table: 5
Prompt: 13, Danger
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 looked around the control room of the Tardis with a sigh, wishing that he and the Doctor were back in Cardiff, in his own time, with his lover safe and protected. A fine job he did of protecting the Doctor, he told himself, thinking back over what they'd been through so recently and hating himself for not being able to do more than he had.

It hadn't been his fault. At least, that was what the Time Lord insisted, telling Ianto over and over again that he'd had nothing to do with his decision to put himself in danger. But Ianto couldn't help feeling guilty -- and worse than that, helpless and inadequate.

One of the reasons he was here with the Doctor was to keep the Gallifreyan safe, wasn't it? Of course, he couldn't do that all the time; there would obviously be situations where the Doctor -- as well as he himself -- might be placed in some kind of peril. But he should at least be able to look out for the Doctor, warn him of any impeding danger.

He hadn't even been able to do that. The Doctor insisted that being taken captive by a gang of pickpockets hadn't been overly dangerous for him, but Ianto was sure that he was trying to make the incident seem less than it had been. And the bruises on the Doctor's body spoke loud and clear, at least in Ianto's mind.

The Time Lord insisted that those men had done nothing but tie him up and threaten him; Ianto was sure they'd done more than that. There had been no sign of sexual abuse, and he was certain that he would have known, would have felt it somehow, if the Doctor had suffered through that. But he was far too bruised and battered to have merely been bound and left alone.

Ianto had shed tears over those bruises; tears of regret and self-hatred, anger at himself for his inability to have stopped this. He should have watched the Doctor more closely, kept him safe, been there to fight those men off and keep them away from his love. But he hadn't been, and the Doctor had paid the price for his inattentiveness.

No matter how many times the Doctor told him that he wasn't to blame, Ianto couldn't bring himself to believe that. If he hadn't let himself be distracted, if he'd been there by the Doctor's side, those men wouldn't have been able to take him.

It had happened so quickly. One moment, they'd been walking down the streets of a busy city together; the next, when he'd turned towards an alley to watch an altercation between two people and then turned to the Doctor after a few moments to wonder aloud if he should try to come between them -- the Time Lord had disappeared.

He knew now what had taken place -- the Doctor had moved away slightly, and two men had taken him, one pulling his arms behind his back and the other clamping an iron hand over his mouth. He'd been dragged down the alley on the opposite side of the street, struggling but unable to make a sound to let Ianto know that he was in danger.

Ianto had turned around to find the Doctor gone, and all he could do was stand there alone, panic rising through him. None of the people around him would say where the tall, handsome man with him had been taken; Ianto knew they'd seen the Doctor abducted, but none of them wanted to get involved. Even on other worlds, things don't change, he told himself bitterly.

It had taken him what seemed like days to find the Doctor, held captive in a small, dusty room in the warren of abandoned offices at the back of a large warehouse. Luckily, the Time Lord's abductors hadn't been there when Ianto had found the place, so it had only been a matter of freeing his love and getting them both out of there to safety.

He'd done that, bringing the Time Lord back to the Tardis, carrying him into their bedroom and carefully undressing him despite the Doctor's protests that he was all right. That was when he'd seen the bruises, and the self-castigation had begun.

The Doctor was sleeping now, tucked into their bed on the Tardis, safe from any harm. Ianto would make sure of that; no one would manage to break into this sanctuary, not while he was here to guard his love. No one was going to touch the Doctor again. He'd learned his lesson, and from now on, he would be on guard every moment.

He'd barely been out here in time and space with the Doctor any time -- and this was what had happened at the first sign of danger to the Time Lord. He was as good as useless, Ianto said to himself, one fist clenching at his side. It was part of his duty to protect the Doctor from any kind of harm, and he'd failed miserably at that.

Sighing again, he leaned over the control panel and closed his eyes. The Doctor wouldn't blame him for not being able to protect him, of course -- but he couldn't stop blaming himself. A lot of good it was doing the Time Lord to have him here, he thought bitterly, wondering if this would make the Doctor take him back to Cardiff.

No, it wouldn't. The Doctor wanted Ianto with him, just as much as the young man wanted to be here. Ianto blinked, straightening up and looking towards the corridor that would take him to their bedroom. Why was he standing here thinking about the things he'd done wrong, when he could be with the man he loved?

He headed for the corridor, making his way to the bedroom and standing in the doorway, looking at the man slumbering peacefully in the bed. Ianto couldn't help smiling as he watched, letting his eyes roam over the Time Lord's sleeping face.

Ianto's eyes drank in the Doctor's features, wanting to strip off his own clothes and slip into bed, take he Time Lord into his arms and .... no. He wasn't going to think like that, not now. The Doctor was probably too bruised to enjoy being touched at the moment, anyway. But -- he could at least hold his love, and let the Doctor wake up in his arms.

The young man moved into the room, making his way towards the bed as he lifted his t-shirt up over his head, tossing it aside. He toed off his shoes, deciding not to go any further with removing clothes. He knew that the Doctor was naked under the blankets, but he himself wasn't going to take off anything else.

It would be different for him, he thought, being in bed with the Doctor without feeling the closeness of skin on skin. Of course, when he and Jack and Owen had brought the Time Lord back from his imprisonment with the Master, they'd spent most of their nights sleeping side by side fully clothed -- nearly two months' worth of time.

But somehow, that had only served to draw them closer together. At the time, he'd felt that it was unbearable not to be able to touch the Doctor's soft skin, not to have the freedom to make love to the Time Lord. It hadn't dawned on him until after they had broken down the barriers that had sprung up between them that he'd learned patience and restraint.

And those had definitely been two qualities that he hadn't had before, Ianto told himself, easing back the covers and sliding into bed next to the Doctor. He settled himself against the pillows, slipping his arms around the Time Lord's slender waist and settling back.

The Doctor sighed in his sleep and turned towards Ianto, snuggling close to him and resting against his chest. Ianto smiled, looking down at the man clasped in his arms, raising one hand to run it through the Gallifreyan's silken hair. How many times had he laid in bed like this, letting the Doctor sleep in his arms? Too many to count.

The smile turned to a frown as his eyes traveled over the bruises that came into view when the Doctor had moved and the blankets slid down a bit. What the hell had they done, kicked him? There was a row of bruises down one side, across his buttocks, and one particularly ugly mark marring the smooth skin of his back.

Ianto could feel fury rising in him, his fists clenching, his lips thinning into a straight line. If he ever saw those men again .... he closed his eyes, trying to fight back the anger and push it down. This wasn't going to do the Doctor any good. They had to put the experience in the past, write it off as an adventure that had gone bad.

He shuddered, remembering the terrified look in the Doctor's eyes when he'd burst into that room. The Time Lord had been tied to a chair in one corner of the room, wrists and ankles bound, a gag in his mouth to keep him quiet. Ianto had freed him and carried him out of there, wanting to burst into tears that he wasn't sure were of relief or guilt.

When he'd gotten the Doctor back to the Tardis, he'd been able to see the extent of the damage inflicted on the Time Lord's body -- and that had only increased the guilt he had felt. He should have been able to protect his lover, should have kept those men away from him ....

The Doctor had silenced his guilt-ridden words with a finger against his lips and a few words, shaking his head and telling Ianto firmly that it hadn't been his fault. But Ianto knew that it would be a long time before he managed to let himself believe that, if ever. There would always be a part of him that carried his guilt around, furtively, secretly.

Ianto looked down as the Time Lord stirred again, wondering if the other man would awaken. He bowed his head to press a soft kiss against the Time Lord's hair, feeling the Doctor's long lashes flutter against his skin as the Gallifreyan opened his eyes. Ianto's arm tightened around his waist, pulling his lover closer against him.

"I didn't mean to wake you, love," he murmured, resisting the urge to tilt the Doctor's face up to his and press another kiss to those soft lips. "You need to rest after what's happened. But I .... I couldn't keep myself from being close to you. I didn't want to leave you alone and vulnerable when you were sleeping."

"Ianto, I'm safe on the Tardis -- you know that," the Doctor told him, his voice soft and still a little husky with sleep. "And you certainly don't need to make excuses for being close to me. You know that you're always welcome in my bed, even if I'm not awake at the time." He sighed and closed his eyes again, both thin arms sliding around Ianto's waist.

"I know, beloved," he answered, brushing another kiss across the Doctor's forehead. "I suppose I'm still feeling a bit guilty about .... everything." He didn't want to make allusions to what had happened; he'd prefer to forget about it, as though those horrible hours when he didn't know where the Doctor was or what had been done to him hadn't existed.

"You don't have to feel guilty, Ianto," the Doctor murmured, still not opening his eyes. His body felt relaxed and pliant in Ianto's arms; at least he didn't to be suffering any ill-effects from the beating he'd taken, Ianto told himself, wondering if that was true. He knew that the Doctor was physically fragile, despite his protests to the contrary.

"So you say," he whispered, resting his cheek against the Time Lord's hair and closing his own eyes. "But I can't help feeling that I should be able to take better care of you, watch out for you more. After all, that's one of the reasons I'm here."

"You're here because I want you to be here," the Doctor told him, opening his eyes and looking up at Ianto, raising one hand to lay it against his young lover's cheek in a gesture of affection. "And because I need you with me, Ianto. You can't protect me from everything that could possibly happen. You're expecting too much of yourself."

"That may be so -- but what good am I if I can't look after you?" Ianto said, looking down and trying to keep the petulant tone out of his voice. Despite his own doubts about his place in the Doctor's life, and the guilt that was still weighing heavily on his conscience, he didn't want to make the Time Lord feel bad about choosing to bring him along.

"You don't need to look after me, love." The Doctor sighed, sitting up and looking at Ianto with a slight frown drawing his brows together. "Ianto, I've been traveling in time and space for a very long time. I may get into scrapes here and there, but I can usually get out of them. You don't have to feel responsible for my well-being."

"But I do," Ianto replied, his gaze meeting the Doctor's. "I want to keep you safe. I want to be able to protect you. It may seem to you as though I'm expecting a lot of myself, but it's something I need to be able to do. I need to prove to myself that I can be there for you, even if you don't need that proof."

The Doctor nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "All right, Ianto. If that's how you feel, then I can accept that. And ...." A slow smile curved the corners of his lips, his eyes still locked with his young lover's gaze. "-- It's rather nice to feel that I have a gorgeous young man looking after me. It's a bit of an ego stroke."

"Oh?" Ianto felt the need to lighten the mood with a little teasing. "Your ego isn't the only part of you that I'd like to stroke, you know." He reached for the Doctor again, pulling the slender Time Lord into his arms and moving his hands down the other man's body, gentle fingers curling around his cock.

"I don't mind that at all," the Time Lord murmured, settling back into Ianto's arms with a contented sigh. "In fact, you could do that for the next few hours and I'd have no problem with it. It sounds like a marvelous way to spend some time."

"Indeed it does," Ianto murmured, tilting the Doctor's face up to his and bowing his head. He could feel the familiar thrill run down his spine, the warmth of desire spreading over his body when his lips touched the Doctor's. The guilty feelings were starting to recede to the back of his mind, replaced by something bigger, more consuming, more urgent.

Maybe the Doctor was right, and it was enough for him just to be here, giving the Time Lord his love and support -- and his company. If that was all he was needed for, then he could live with that. At least he was here with his love, and not sitting at home, pacing the floor and wondering if the Doctor was all right, wondering when they would be together again.

Ianto gave up trying to sort through the reasons he was here; the only reason that mattered was that the Doctor wanted him here. He was exactly where he belonged, by the side of the man he loved. He'd wanted to be here more than anything in his life, and he wouldn't give up his place with the Doctor, no matter what was offered to coerce him away.

Even if he couldn't protect the Doctor from every sort of danger the Time Lord might face, he was there to share it with him. The Doctor needed him in ways that didn't involve protection -- he needed companionship and love, two things that Ianto would willingly provide, for as long as the Doctor needed them.

He bent his head to kiss the Doctor again, this time with more passion than before, letting his hands continue to roam over the Time Lord's body. Hmmmm .... maybe he could say that what they were going to do fell under the realm of protection. It was certainly worth a try.

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