Title: The Winner Takes It All
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Doctor Who
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 11
Prompt: 35, Betrayal
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.

***

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Ianto murmured as he lay in bed beside the Doctor, one arm wrapped firmly around the Time Lord's waist. "Seeing Jack again always stirs up memories for both of us, but I think it's getting easier to be around him."

The Doctor nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly. "The memories that being around him brings back aren't all bad," he conceded with a sigh. "But I still have issues to work out with him. I'll probably never quite get rid of all the resentment that I still have."

"Because of him leaving you?" Ianto inquired, raising an eyebrow. "I don't blame you for that, Doctor. But I feel sorry for him because he made that choice. After all," the young man said with a smile, "he gave up the most incredible man in the universe."

"Ianto, you're giving me too much credit!" the Doctor exclaimed, shaking his head and laughing. "I'm not that wonderful, believe me."

"Now you're not giving yourself enough credit," Ianto told him. "In my eyes, you're the most amazing man who's ever existed. And I'm not going to listen to any protests, Doctor. You'll just have to get used to me thinking of you in that way."

"Oh, all right," the Doctor said, mock-grumbling but unable to keep back the small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I suppose I'll just have to give in with good grace and accept the fact that you have far too high an opinion of me."

"You have a high opinion of yourself sometimes!" Ianto laughed, pulling the other man closer against him and brushing his lips across the Time Lord's cheek. "You know you're a genius, and a hero, and ...." He ran out of words, ending his recital with another soft laugh.

"And sometimes I'm just a man," the Doctor said quietly, settling himself more comfortably into Ianto's embrace. "And I'm perfectly happy with that."

"I think I prefer the man above anything else that you are," Ianto murmured, resting his cheek against the Time Lord's hair for a moment. "The hero and the genius are impressive -- but it's the man I fell in love with. The man who's all those other things combined."

"The man is much more vulnerable than any other aspect of who I am," the Doctor sighed, snuggling into Ianto's arms. "I suppose that's why I hardly ever let people see him. You being a notable exception, of course. And not many people in the past have seen him, either."

"Jack saw that side of you often enough," Ianto said softly, wondering if the Time Lord would deny his words. "He talked about how vulnerable you could be. I think he liked that side of you, Doctor. Even if he didn't acknowledge them in the end."

The Doctor shook his head, looking away from Ianto and closing his eyes. "Jack never acknowledged that I had feelings. He didn't think of anything but his own desires."

"You still see him leaving you as a betrayal," Ianto said quietly, tightening his arm around the other man's slim waist. It was a statement, not a question; he could almost feel the Time Lord's pain through the bond that they shared.

Of course he'd see Jack's leaving as a betrayal, Ianto told himself. What a stupid thing for him to say. Anyone would see it in that light, especially when they were a person who needed their lovers to give them forever, and the one person who could willingly walked away from them.

"Yes," the Doctor answered, his voice tight and strained. Ianto glanced at the Time Lord's face; it was pale and drawn, and it was obvious that the Doctor was holding back tears. He cursed himself inwardly for bringing the subject up.

"He told me that he would stay with me forever," the Doctor whispered, his voice trembling. "And then he left when he got tired of me. That's the ultimate betrayal."

"He told you that he would stay?" Ianto's tone betrayed his surprise; this was the first time he'd heard that. He'd always thought that Jack had sidestepped the question of staying with the Doctor, as he managed to deflect any question of being faithful and committed to a lover.

The Doctor nodded, raising a hand to his eyes to wipe away the few tears that had begun to trickle down his cheeks. "Yes. But I knew better than to believe it was true. It wasn't a surprise when he left; the only surprise was that he did it so soon."

"It still hurts, I know," Ianto whispered, his breath catching in his throat. "I know there's a part of you that still cares for him, Doctor. I suppose there's still a small part of me that does, too. But you know, I feel sorry for him, really. He's lost more than he knows."

The Doctor nodded, a small smile breaking through his melancholy expression. "Yes, he is. I have you now -- and he's alone. In this case, the winner takes it all."

"I think he always knew that he wasn't the man you were meant to be with, even before I came into his life," Ianto said softly, tilting the Time Lord's face up to his. "You can't blame him for leaving when you look at it like that. He knew he wasn't the one for you."

The Gallifreyan nodded slowly, looking thoughtful, his words coming out slowly when he spoke. "You're right, Ianto. Jack may have known that he and I weren't destined to be together -- and that it would be easier for both of us if he walked away when he did."

"I know it still feels like a betrayal, but maybe in his eyes, it wasn't," Ianto mused. "And you know, he's still your friend. He still cares about you -- about both of us. But he left us both free to find each other. That makes up for whatever betrayal you might feel, doesn't it?

"Indeed it does," the Doctor murmured, resting his head against Ianto's shoulder. "We both owe him a debt of gratitude for leading us to each other."

"He might have betrayed us both in some ways, but that betrayal turned out to be for the best." Ianto's voice was soft and husky, the words said in an almost dreamy tone. "I wonder if somehow he knew what you and I would eventually mean to each other?"

"Well, he is from the future," the Doctor said, a smile curving his lips as he looked up at his young lover. "And with Jack, there's no telling what he might know. I think there's quite a lot that he keeps from both of us."

"There's a lot that he kept from me about you," Ianto murmured, nibbling at the Doctor's earlobe. "Like how sexy you are, especially without your clothes." As he spoke, the young man's hands moved down the Doctor's sides, making the Time Lord squirm and move closer to him.

"Ianto, are you trying to tell me something?" the Doctor asked, smirking and raising a hand to his mouth to hold back a laugh.

"I just might be," Ianto told him, shifting his position so that he was leaning over the Time Lord. The Doctor's eyes widened as he found himself lying on his back, with his young lover kneeling between his spread thighs, a mischievous light dancing in those blue-grey eyes.

All thoughts of past betrayals were pushed to the back of their minds and left in the past as the two men melted into a warm embrace, losing themselves in each other and retreating into a world of their own making where only the two of them existed.

***