Title: A Gift Rejected
By: nancy
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
spoilers: entire series
warnings: angst
summary: Ianto's lost.

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Ianto felt lost.

Without Jack, there was no compass, no direction, no one to look to…no one to obey. For a short, too short of a time, he’d called Jack ‘Master’ and the world had fallen into place. He’d known exactly what was expected of him and what to do; serve Jack in any way the other man saw fit and make him happy. It had been a purpose in life that had been sorely lacking, once Lisa was dead.

Calling Jack ‘Master’ hadn’t been Ianto’s way back into Torchwood, it had been his way back into Jack’s good graces. Well, mostly good graces. There’d still been some trust issues, but he’d accepted that as payment for his betrayal. Ianto had given everything to his new Master and meant it. All the sweat and come and blood had been his gift to the man who’d given his life purpose once more.

A gift apparently rejected.

Gazing around the empty Hub that he cleaned, the unreasonable expectation that Jack would come walking through at any moment continued. He’d known in his gut that what they’d had didn’t mean as much to Jack as to himself and accepted it. Despite that, Ianto had been hopeful that one day, fondness, friendship, and lust could turn to love. He should have known better. Jack’s heart belonged to the mysterious Doctor, the man whose hand was kept and revered in a glass stasis jar.

Life hurt now, just as much as directly after Lisa had been ripped from him in a hail of bullets. All Ianto could do was keep the others as safe as possible and do for them, what he’d done for Jack in the hopes that one day, if Jack returned, the others would tell him how steadfast and loyal he’d been.

Ianto sighed and returned to his cleaning.