Title: Through the Fire
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: R
Table: VRD challenge - Orange, 5_prompts
Prompt: Flickering orange flames
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, don't move!" the Doctor shouted, raising his hands in front of his face. The flames that raged all around the building they were in trapped Ianto in the corner of the large room; he knew that he would feel the effects of smoke inhalation in minutes.

He had to get out of here -- but the Doctor had told him that it wasn't safe to try to get to the front of the building. Did he dare try to make it out that way? He wasn't sure that he should take the risk; he had no idea which way he should turn.

Should he listen to the Doctor, and try to wait for help? He could already hear sirens in the distance; the fire trucks would be getting here within a few minutes, and maybe he could hang on long enough for them to get him out safely.

If not -- then he would die here. And the Doctor would be forced to watch his death play out in front of him. He couldn't subject his lover to that, not after he'd already lost so much, after he'd seen the deaths of so many others who he'd cared for.

No, he couldn't wait. He had to try to make it out of here, even if it was a risk. Life was about taking risks, after all, wasn't it? Ianto took a breath, looking around him again as he searched for what appeared to be the best way out.

"Ianto!" He could hear the Doctor's anguished cry to his left; he squinted through the wall of flickering flames to see the Time Lord standing just outside the door, being held back by two burly men who were obviously keeping him from trying to get to his lover.

"Doctor, stay back!" Ianto shouted, hoping that the other man could hear him over the roaring of the flames that seemed to be all around him. The last thing he wanted was for the Time Lord to come after him, risking his own life to save Ianto.

But he realized with a sinking heart that if the Doctor was determined to walk through the fire to reach him, then the Time Lord would find a way to do it. He knew all too well that it was useless to try and stop the Doctor once he'd made up his mind about something.

He certainly wouldn't be so foolhardy as to try to get through that wall of flame and help Iant out of here. The Doctor wasn't that foolish; he had to know that there was a very good chance neither of them would survive if he tried that.

Wait .... was he seeing what his brain told him that he was? The Doctor was shaking off the two men who had been trying to hold him back, striding towards the doorway where the flames were licking around the wooden frame.

No! He couldn't think that he would make it through those flames alive and unhurt. Ianto wanted to call out, to scream at his lover to stay back, but he was paralyzed. It was as though he was frozen in place, unable to do or say anything as the Doctor moved towards him.

Ianto wanted to close his eyes, to sink to the ground and not have to look up again. He was sure that the Doctor would be consumed by those flames, that by the time his boyfriend reached him, the other man would be engulfed in a mass of flames.

All he could do was close his eyes -- and send up a prayer to any deity he could possibly think of. He'd given up on praying a very long time ago; he hadn't had any religious beliefs since he was a teenager. But this suddenly seemed like a very good time to pray.

He didn't know how long he stood there, with his head bowed and his eyes squeezed shut. He didn't want to see what was going on around him; he could hear well enough. The fire trucks had arrived, and cold water was being sprayed on the building to stop the fire.

"Ianto!"

His eyes flew open and his head jerked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and heard that soft voice speaking to him. The Doctor was standing there in front of him -- unscathed by the flames. He looked as though he'd just taken a walk in the park.

"D-Doctor?" he stammered, feeling like he'd stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone. This wasn't possible, Ianto told himself dazedly; those flames had been too high and too fierce for the Time Lord to simply walk through the fire to be by his side.

Was he .... dead? Was that why he thought he was seeing his lover here with him? Had his life in the realm he knew already been snuffed out, letting his spirit cross to the other side? That was the only plausible explanation he could come up with at the moment.

It took him a moment to realize that the Doctor was soaking wet -- when he took a step forward, his shoes squelched, a sound that was audible even with the crackle of flames all around them. Even his hair was soaked, plastered to his head.

"They're spraying the front doors now," the Doctor said, raising his voice to make sure that Ianto could hear him. "Wait until it looks as though the flames are dying down a bit -- and then head for the door. And hold on to me!"

Ianto could only nod, swallowing hard as he looked around him again. The flames near them didn't seem to be fading; they still looked as though they were leaping ferociously, waiting to wrap themselves around the two men and reduced them to cinders.

But he had to believe in the Doctor; his lover wouldn't be here unless he thought they could both make it out of here alive and unharmed. Ianto slipped an arm around the other man, feeling the wetness of the Time Lord's clothes seep into his own.

That was what he needed to do -- get as much of his clothing wet as possible, so that the flames would have less of a chance to latch onto him. And he had to hold on to his belief in the Time Lord, keep the idea fixed in his mind that they would get out safely.

There. The doorway was clear now; they still had to plunge through a few feet of fire to get there, but he was fairly sure they could do it, if they kept their heads down and moved as quickly as possible. And, of course, if luck was with them.

Glancing at the Doctor, Ianto didn't need a confirmation in words. The two of them moved forward together as one, nearly jumping through the flames that were still rising around them as they headed for the door and out of the building.

Ianto didn't have time to feel relieved when he realized that they were outside; there was a patch of flame on his arm, one that he hadn't realized had formed as he and the Doctor had made their way through the burning building to relative safety.

Without a second thought, the young man dropped to the ground, rolling over and dousing the flames. He lay there for a few moments, gasping; he felt dizzy, almost sick from inhaling smoke. But he was alive -- and so was the Doctor.

That was the only thought that penetrated his fogged brain at the moment -- the fact that both of them were alive. They were whole, they were in one piece; neither of them had been burned. They had made it through those flickering flames safely -- even if they might be slightly singed.

Ianto looked up as the Doctor dropped to his knees beside him; without words, he wrapped his arms around Ianto, pulling him close and holding him. Ianto didn't care that his lover was soaking wet; the only thing that mattered was being in the Time Lord's arms.

Closing his eyes, he sent up another prayer to any deity that might happen to be listening -- this one a prayer of thanks that he and the Doctor had both come through the fire unscathed, and a hope that they'd be able to do in the future if the need arose again.

***