Title: Right Beside You
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: R
Table: 3, 50ficlets
Prompt: 43, Pain
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 leaned over the Doctor, anxiously searching his lover's face for any sign that the Time Lord was waking up. He had no fear for the other man's life; his heartbeats were strong and steady, but he seemed to be taking a very long time to come around.

He shouldn't be surprised, Ianto thought with a sigh, taking the Doctor's thin hand in both of his own. The Master had probably tortured him to within an inch of his life before Ianto had managed to figure out a way to cut the wires that had powered the machines he'd been using to torment the Time Lord.

The young man squeezed his eyes closed at the memory of it; the Doctor screaming and writhing in pain, those machines doing .... well, he didn't know what they'd been doing to the Doctor. But whatever it was, he knew it had been terrible to cause those screams of agony.

The Master had cursed and done a fair bit of screaming himself when the lights had gone out -- but those had been screams of rage, not pain. And fortunately, he'd run out of the room to find out just what had gone wrong -- running right by Ianto's hiding place.

He'd only had seconds to get those machines unhooked, to lift the Doctor into his arms and wrap the long suede coat around the Time Lord's limp body. The Tardis had been only a short distance away; he'd managed to climb through an open window and get to her within minutes.

Fortunately, he knew enough about setting coordinates now to get the ship away from this planet; he'd felt the familiar displacement of time and space when she'd shimmered into nothingness, and he had heaved a sigh of relief when they were safely away.

But now, it seemed to be taking an inordinately long time for the Time Lord to come to, and Ianto was growing more worried by the second. At least he didn't feel that the Doctor was fading away; he just seemed to be deeply unconscious.

The moment that thought crystallized in his mind, the Doctor turned his head on the pillow, a soft moan leaving his lips. Ianto sucked in his breath in a startled gasp, leaning over his lover quickly and smoothing the damp hair back from his forehead.

"Doctor? Are you awake?" It was probably a silly question, but they were the only words he could think of to say. The first words that came to mind, other than "I love you" and "please be all right." But the others might have been better for the Doctor to hear.

The Time Lord opened his eyes, blinking a few times before his gaze focused on the anxious man who was leaning so close to him. "I'll be all right, Ianto," he whispered, raising a hand to press it against his lover's cheek. "I haven't been beaten yet. Laid low, but not beaten."

"Are you in pain, love?" Another stupid question, Ianto thought, wanting to slap himself for asking it. But the words had tumbled out before he really knew what he was saying; he was so worried about the Time Lord that he didn't seem to be able to control his tongue, or his thoughts.

"Yes," the Doctor admitted, shifting his position a little and grimacing. "But I'll be all right -- with time. My body is quite resilient, you know. And ...." His voice trailed off as he took a breath and smiled up at the young man. "-- Having you here to share the pain is helping to make it less."

"But I'm not sharing your pain," Ianto whispered, his fingers twining through the Doctor's and squeezing the other man's hand gently. "Though I wish more than anything that I could. If I could take your pain, I'd do it in a second. I'd be right beside you to take it all away."

"Pain shared is pain halved," the Time Lord said softly, his eyes not leaving Ianto's. "And you are sharing it, Ianto. Just by being here with me, by being next to me -- by loving me. That makes the pain so much less -- and it will dissipate more quickly for that, too."

"I hope so," Ianto said, his free hand smoothing back the Doctor's hair from his face, gentle fingertips lingering on the other man's soft cheek. "I really hope so. I'd give anything for you not to have suffered that. I should have gotten there sooner."

"Don't say that, Ianto. You did everything you could." The Doctor's voice was soft; he slid over in the bed, patting the space beside him. "You know, it'll hurt less if you're holding me. And I'm sure that I'll recover a lot more quickly if I'm in your arms, so get into bed and help me heal."

"There's nothing I'd like better," Ianto murmured, complying with the Doctor's request and sliding into bed next to the Time Lord, taking the other man in his arms. He only hoped that this would indeed help to ease his lover's pain; if it did, then he was more than happy to stay in this bed forever.

***