Title: A Strange Twist of Fate
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 50scenes
Prompt: 15, Twist
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.

***

"It was a strange twist of fate that brought us together, wasn't it?" Ianto murmured, raising a hand to twine his fingers through the Doctor's tawny hair. "After all, things could have so easily gone another way for both of us."

"Really? Do you think so?" the Doctor asked, looking up at his young lover. They were lying in bed together, the Time Lord's head pillowed on Ianto's shoulder. "Things could have gone another way for us, yes, but I don't think it would have necessarily been easy."

"Well, maybe not easy," Ianto admitted, looking down at his lover with a smile. "But if fate had taken only a slightly different turn, we might not be together. Our lives could be very different from what they are now, you know."

"Yes, you're right about that." Ianto felt a shudder go through the slim body in his arms; he pulled the Doctor closer against him, moving one hand down the smooth skin of the other man's back.

"Is something wrong, love?" A worried frown creased the young man's brow; he didn't know if it was his words that had unsettled the Doctor, but he hoped not. A stab of guilt went through him; the Doctor had enough to worry about without him adding to that burden.

The Time Lord shook his head, a soft sigh leaving his lips. "No, not really," he murmured, closing his eyes and snuggling closer against Ianto. "I just don't like to think about the fact that fate very well could have decided not to throw us together."

"That would never have happened," Ianto said firmly, wishing inwardly that he could rewing time and erase the last few things he'd said. Those words had obviously set the Doctor's mind on a course that neither of them wanted to contemplate.

He couldn't take those words back, but he could try to soften the blow they appeared to have given the Doctor. He would just have to choose the rest of his words more carefully.

"Soul mates are meant to be together, Doctor," he said softly, tilting the Doctor's face up towards his own so that he could look into the Time Lord's beautiful dark eyes. "We were always meant to be, and even a power like fate couldn't keep us apart."

"I suppose I worry that fate could choose to take you away from me," the Doctor whispered, lifting a hand to trail one soft fingertip down Ianto's cheek and across his lips. "I know more than most how cruel and fickle fate can be when it comes to hearts."

Ianto couldn't deny that; the Doctor had certainly had more people come and go in his long life than anyone else he knew. But he was determined to be the person who stayed with the Time Lord; he was going to be the one to defy fate.

Of course, he couldn't be with the Gallifreyan forever -- but he was going to be here for as long as he possibly could. Nothing was going to tear him away from the man he loved.

"I know what you're thinking, Ianto." The Doctor's whisper brought him out of his thoughts; the slight smile on the other man's features came as a bit of a surprise. "How can I not, when your emotions are written on your face for anyone to see?"

"Then what am I thinking, love?" the young man asked, taking the Doctor's hand in his and twining their fingers together. "I don't mind that you can read what I'm thinking. I don't see it as an invasion -- to me, it's just further proof that we belong with each other."

"I'm glad you see it that way," the Doctor told him, his dark eyes fixed on Ianto's face. "I don't mean to pry into your thoughts, Ianto. But when your emotions are that overwhelming -- it's as though your mind screams out, and I can't help but catch those thoughts."

"It's all right, sweetheart." Ianto bowed his head to press a kiss against those soft lips, murmuring against the Doctor's mouth. "Tell me what I was thinking about."

"You were thinking that you're going to be the one who proves my past wrong," the Doctor whispered, his dark gaze fixed on Ianto's face. "That you're going to be the person who'll stay with me forever -- or at least for the rest of your human life."

"That's not all, Doctor," Ianto told him, a lump coming into his throat. He had to swallow hard before he could speak again. "Not only for the rest of my life -- but for all eternity. Even if I'm not with you in body, I'll always be with you in spirit. I'll be in your hearts."

The Doctor nodded, a few tears escaping and trickling down his cheeks. Ianto raised a hand to gently wipe them away, feeling annoyed with himself. The last thing he'd wanted to do was make the Doctor cry, especially after they'd just made love.

He seemed to be all too good at bringing out the melancholy side of his lover, he reflected wryly. It was an ability that he could only see as a fault.

"Maybe you're right, and it is a strange twist of fate for us to be together," the Doctor mused, obviously making an effort to lighten the mood. "But we have to thank fate for bringing us to each other, Ianto. She obviously intended for us to meet."

"If we hadn't, then I might still be with Jack," Ianto agreed. "Or you might be with him. I might still be with Lisa, or I could have met someone else entirely. I could still be the Torchwood teaboy, and I'd never have stepped out of that shell I wrapped myself in."

"And I might still be looking for a companion who I could love and who would be my soul mate," the Time Lord said softly, raising Ianto's hand to his lips and kissing the young man's fingertips. "But none of that happened. Instead .... we found each other."

"It certainly seems that fate deliberately threw us together, doesn't it?" Ianto said, a smile curving his lips. "As if everything we did led up to that moment when our eyes first met."

"I relive that moment every time I look at you," the Doctor murmured, a smile finally starting to dawn on his face. "I can remember everything you said, and the expression on your face when we first looked into each other's eyes. That's going to be in my memory forever."

"I'd heard so much about you, but I never dreamed that you'd feel the same way about me as I did about you," Ianto confessed, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "I think I might have been a little bit in love with you even before we met."

"Even though Jack had probably told you some terrible things about me?" the Doctor asked, his smile growing wider. "Then it must be love, if you could see past all that to let yourself fall in love. Fate certainly knew what she was doing when she brought you to me."

"It wouldn't have mattered what he'd told me," Ianto whispered in the Doctor's ear. "I'd still have fallen in love with you, no matter what anyone said."

"Oh, yes?" The Doctor laid back against the pillows, arching one brow in question. "And what was it that would have made you fall for me? My sparkling personality? My handsome face? Or just that twist of fate that decreed you and I were meant for each other?"

"All of the above -- and more," Ianto told him, rolling over on top of the Doctor and pinning the other man down with his body. "But I'd much rather show you than tell you just how much I love you," he murmured as he pulled the Doctor close and their lips met.

***