Title: Time Flies
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4
Prompt: 3, New Year
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's blue-grey eyes widened as he stared at the calendar on his desk. No, it couldn't be. It had been over a year now that he'd been with the Doctor, and he somehow hadn't realized it. A year on the Tardis, with the love of his life.

He'd meant to have some kind of special celebration when a year had passed; even though it wasn't his technical anniversary of being with the Time Lord, a year of making the Tardis his home and being with his love on a permanent basis seemed worthy of celebrating.

And he'd let that all-important date go by without even realizing that it was near. He felt guilty, even if the anniversary was something that the Doctor probably wouldn't remember either. He couldn't help but wonder just how the Time Lord felt about it.

Had he remembered, and simply not said anything? Ianto didn't think so; the Doctor would surely have mentioned something like that to him, if only in passing. It seemed that they'd both forgotten the date in the passing of time.

Time seemed so different here in the Tardis, he reflected, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms above his head. The days passed so swiftly that he almost didn't notice them; it was only when he got tired that he realized a day had gone by.

It was so different from his time on Earth without the Doctor. He had seemed so spend most of the day either trying to concentrate on his work with Torchwood, or looking out of the windows up at the sky and wondering where his lover was.

He'd done that for a year. An entire year, plus a few extra weeks. He'd been so aware of the passing of time then; he had spent so much of his time worrying about whether or not he would see the Doctor again, and if they would go on in that way indefinitely.

Of course, that terrible argument had nearly been the end of everything, he thought, suppressing a shudder at the memory. He didn't want to remember what that fight had caused, and how close he'd come to losing the man he loved forever.

Ianto sighed, closing his eyes and trying his best to push the mental images to the back of his mind. That was a time of their lives that was better off kept in the past and forgotten; it definitely wasn't going to happen again.

His eyes flew open when he felt the Doctor's arms slide around his waist; the Time Lord's warm breath was on his neck, his lover's voice whispering in his ear. "What are you doing, sweetheart? Did we miss some important day on the calendar?"

"You startled me!" Ianto leaned back, looking up at the Doctor with a mock pout. "No, love, we didn't really miss anything important," he said, a little embarrassed to have been caught looking at a calendar. After all, time wasn't really important any more, was it?

"Then why are you looking at that? And why is this date --" he pointed at a day a little over a week ago --"circled in red?" The Time Lord looked curious, as though he'd discovered some new species or had unearthed an idea that had been inconceivable before.

Ianto could feel a blush rising to his cheeks; he had to tell himself that there was absolutely no reason for him to be embarrassed about circling his year's anniversary of being on the Tardis in red. "It's, errr .... the date that I've been here on the Tardis permanently for a year."

The Doctor's dark eyes widened, his jaw dropping slightly. "I can't believe I forgot that!" he exclaimed, giving Ianto a guilty look. "I'm sorry, Ianto. I should have realised that you'd been here for a year. Time flies, doesn't it? But it's not too late for us to have a celebration."

His lover looked so contrite that Ianto couldn't help but smile; he stood up, turning to the Time Lord and pulling the other man into his arms. "You don't have to celebrate it, love," he said softly. "I just realised myself that the time had gone by faster than I'd thought."

"I suppose I'm just used to having you here now," the Doctor murmured, nuzzling his cheek against Ianto's. "You may not have been on the Tardis for very long, but it feels as though you've been in my hearts for all of my life -- and more."

"I can barely remember what life was like before you were in my heart," Ianto whispered, realizing with a shock that his words were entirely true. The memories of his life before Torchwood, and before the Doctor, were like a hazy blur.

He knew that he should probably feel guilty for letting those memories blur so much -- but memories were designed that way for a reason, he told himself firmly. They were meant to fade. And he had to concentrate on the present, not the past.

"Would you like to have some sort of celebration?" the Doctor asked him, pulling back slightly to regard him with a questioning look. "I think we should -- after all, a year is a long time for a human. And we never really celebrated our one-year anniversary, either."

"No, we didn't," Ianto said, unaware that he sounded a bit wistful. "But that doesn't matter," he told the Doctor, taking a deep breath and smiling at his lover. "The important thing is that I'm here, that we're together, and that we won't be parted."

"No, we won't. Not ever again," the Doctor said softly, raising a hand to brush a few errant strands of hair back from Ianto's face. "I hated not knowing where you were, if you were out somewhere with the Torchwood team, if you were safe or heading into some kind of danger."

"And I hated knowing that you were out here in the stars by yourself, without any idea of what might be happening to you," Ianto murmured, not wanting to go into those thoughts now. That was in that past, and he'd prefer to let it stay there.

"A year that you've been here," the Doctor said, his tone musing. "It doesn't seem that long, does it, love? Time passes differently in the Tardis, of course, but it feels like only yesterday when you were first asking me how everything works."

Ianto laughed, shaking his head ruefully. "And I still haven't gotten used to a lot of it! There have been times when I've gone wandering, and ended up in a part of her that I wasn't familiar with. Thank goodness she likes me enough to point me in the right direction."

"She loves you, Ianto," the Doctor said quietly, resting a hand on Ianto's cheek. "She knows how deep our bond is, and she can literally sense your feelings through your bond with me. It's not the same kind of love that we share, obviously, but it is love."

"And I love her," the young man whispered, laying a hand against the wall. He could almost swear that he felt a slight rush of pleasure, as though the Tardis was thanking him. And he could definitely feel a surge of what he would call caring.

"We both want to have a celebration!" the Doctor announced, tightening his arms around Ianto's waist and nearly lifting the young man off his feet in an exuberant hug. "There should be some kind of party to commemorate the year that you've been here with me."

"And we didn't have any sort of celebration on New Year's Eve," Ianto pointed out with a smile. "Maybe we can have an all-in-one. What do you think?" He tilted his head to the side, feeling that his suggestion was a little silly, but hoping that the Doctor would agree.

"I was thinking of a party for just the two of us," the TIme Lord told him, his dark eyes meeting Ianto's, mischief sparkling in their depths. "Preferably the kind of party that can be held in the bedroom. A very private party."

"But wouldn't the Tardis be a bit put out by that?" Ianto asked, a smile beginning to spread across his face. "After all, it isn't as though she would be able to take part in that. And I'd hate to leave her out -- though I'm not keen on the idea of her, errr, watching."

"Oh, I'm sure she has no problem with the idea of a private party for the two of us. Do you, dear?" the Doctor asked, looking around him with a questioning look. The Tardis' lights dimmed for a few seconds, giving the two men all the answer they needed.

As he followed the Doctor out of the room they were in towards their bedroom, Ianto smiled to himself, thinking that if this was how he and the Doctor were going to celebrate the anniversary of his first year here on the ship, he couldn't wait to see what the ten-year party would be like.

***