Title: Reach Out of the Darkness
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 50scenes
Prompt: 34, Darkness
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Jack Harkness. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor awoke with a gasp, sitting up in bed and raising a trembling hand to his throat. He almost expected the Master's hands to be wrapped around his neck, choking the breath and the life out of him. The dream had seemed so real, as much a part of reality as the furniture in Ianto's bedroom, the curtains blowing a the windows, the young man sleeping beside him.

The terror ebbed away by degrees, leaving him feeling drained and exhausted. He hadn't expected that he'd keep having these dreams after he'd begun spending his nights with Ianto; but somehow, the Master could always insinuate himself into his mind when he thought the memories were safely tucked away under lock and key.

The Doctor sat up in bed, pulling his legs up against his chest and resting his chin on his knees. It was a good thing that he hadn't woken Ianto up, he thought, looking over at the young Welshman still deep in slumber in the bed beside him. He didn't seem to be able to fall asleep easily, and the last thing the Doctor wanted to do was to give him any more sleeplessness due to worrying about him.

Besides, he should be over all his fears about the Master. He was dead ... .wasn't he? The Doctor shivered, wrapping his arms around himself and wishing he hadn't stripped naked before he and Ianto had gone to bed. Of course, he could get up and put on some clothes -- but that would mean the possibility of waking Ianto, and he didn't want to do that.

There was no reason to be so afraid of the Master, he argued silently with himself, trying to ignore the chill of the room and the way that it seemed to seep into his bones. That threat he'd made about coming back -- it was empty, meaningless. He was dead and gone, and there was no way that he'd harm anyone again.

Least of all his greatest enemy.

He'd cried when the Master had died. Oh yes, he'd cried. After all, the Master had been the only other Time Lord still in the universe, the only other one of his own kind. His refusal to even try to regenerate, choosing death over the possibility of being with the Doctor in any way other than as bitter enemies, was something that still rankled in his heart. He supposed that he would never get over it, no matter how long he might live.

It was a kind of betrayal -- yet another person who had promised him "forever" and then turned their back on him when he most needed them. He could still feel the weight of the Master's body in his arms, feel the tears on his face, feel the searing pain in his heart as the knowledge struck him that he was truly all alone in the universe now.

The last of the Time Lords. The only one left. The only one to uphold the legacy of Gallifrey and its people, with no one to understand him. No one to be there when he needed them. No one to take away his loneliness. No one to be with him forever, no one to care if he lived or died.

No one to love him.

No. That wasn't true. He had Ianto. Ianto would be with him, keep away the encroaching darkness that seemed to creep forward until it covered everything. Ianto would protect him from his memories, the memories that always multiplied within that darkness until they loomed so large and frightening that he cowered away from them.

He shivered again, thoughts that he didn't want to linger on crowding into his mind unbidden. He didn't want to think about Ianto's humanity, his frailty. He didn't want to face the fact that Ianto was human -- and that he would eventually age and die. It was inevitable. Ianto would have to leave him. Leave, like all the rest.

All the companions. All the people who had ever promised him forever, and then had turned their backs on him and walked away, condemning him to a lifetime -- or several lifetimes, in his case -- of loneliness.

Even Jack. The immortal, the one who couldn't die. Jack had promised him forever, promised him when their bodies were entwined and their lips clung together as if they would never part. Promised him over and over again as they'd made love, promised him that he would never leave, that he'd never have to be alone again.

They all left, in the end. Even Jack. Every person he'd ever cared for, everyone who'd ever made that empty promise. They all left, eventually.

Even the Master.

Ianto would have to leave. Death would take him, even if they had years of their lives together. And he would be left in the darkness again, the darkness that would seem so much worse now that he'd known what it was like to have those dark corners of his life filled with joy and light and love. That darkness would swallow him whole, devour him alive.

The Doctor buried his face against his thighs, trying to hold back his sobs and failing. His slender body shook with the force of his crying, a flood of tears that he'd been holding back for what seemed like forever finally breaking free and sliding down his cheeks, choking him with their insistence on being shed.

He scarcely noticed when Ianto sat up beside him, one arm wrapping around his waist and pulling him close. The young Welshman rocked back and forth, the Doctor's body clasped in his arms, trying to soothe the distraught Time Lord.

"Shhh, my love," he whispered, stroking the dampened strands of tawny hair back from the Doctor's face, kissing away the tears still streaming down his cheeks. "Whatever it is, it's going to be all right. I'm here, you're safe. Don't be afraid, love, I'm here."

Ianto's words, the comforting gestures, the soft voice, the gentle hands, completely undid whatever composure the Doctor was still clinging to. Letting out another soft sob, he curled into his young lover's arms, burying his face against Ianto's shoulder, his arms wrapping tightly around Ianto's waist as if he were holding on for dear life.

"Don't leave me," he whispered, the words barely audible through his sobs. "Don't leave me to the darkness, Ianto. Please .... I can't bear it. I can't stand to be alone."

Ianto's hands were stroking down his back, soothing him, comforting him. How long would he have these arms around him? How long would he have Ianto in his life? How long before it was all over, this brief interlude in centuries that never seemed to end? How long before he would have to say the most painful goodbye of his life?

"You won't be, sweetheart," Ianto murmured, brushing soft lips against his forehead. "I won't leave you, I promise. I've waited all my life for you. There's no way I would ever let anything tear you away from me. Not now, not ever. I promise you, my love, you won't be alone. Not ever again. I won't let it happen."

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying to gulp back the tears that wouldn't stop. Ianto didn't understand. None of his human companions had, either. They didn't know what it was like to be cursed with being what he was, the centuries going past with no one to share them with him. He was the last of his kind. That was his curse, one that he would have to carry forever.

But he didn't want to tell his young lover that, not now. It was enough that Ianto was here now, that he could dispel that frightening darkness that reached out, beckoning and strangely seductive. The darkness that was threatening to overtake him and swallow him up in its depths even as he tried to hold on to all that was good in his life.

He lifted his face from Ianto's shoulder, lifting one thin hand to wipe at the wetness still on his cheeks. Ianto leaned forward, soft lips kissing away the salty tears, arms still around his waist, holding him and protecting him.

"What is it, my love? What's making you cry?" Those blue-grey eyes were full of love and concern, the kind of love that the Doctor had never known before in any of his lifetimes. A love that he wanted to hold onto for the rest of his days.

The Doctor shook his head, trying to smile and failing. "Nothing, beloved. Just a nightmare. A particularly bad one this time. You know how they come to me when I least expect them .... I'm afraid it's a fact of life with me. Blame it on having had too many lives and too many experiences that I'd rather have forgotten by now."

Ianto nodded, pulling the Doctor close again and brushing a gentle kiss against his mouth. "I'll try my best to keep those nightmares away, love. I may not always be able to hold them at bay -- but I can try to be your knight in shining armor."

"More like my knight in a shining three-piece suit," the Doctor joked, his eyes starting to close. He was beginning to feel tired again, the emotional roller-coaster he'd been on in the past little while draining him to the point of exhaustion.

"Yes, well, I'm told that I look good in them." Ianto smiled, pushing the Doctor down against the soft pillows and pulling the covers up around his bare shoulders. Turning onto his side, he wrapped his arms around the Time Lord's slender waist, draping on leg over the Doctor's thighs and pulling him close.

"Can you sleep like this?" he asked softly, brushing his lips against the Doctor's ear. "I want to make certain that those nightmares don't attack you again."

He could feel the darkness receding; Ianto's kiss, his arms, his nearness, the love surrounding him were all driving it back. He was safe now, safe in Ianto's arms. Safe with his love, where he belonged. The darkness couldn't hurt him now. It was now the one cowering in a corner, afraid to face the light and love that would banish it forever.

"Yes," the Doctor murmured in response, drifting off to sleep in Ianto's arms. A deep, dreamless sleep, safe in a haven where the darkness could no longer find him.

***