Title: Evergreen
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: VRD challenge - Green, 5_prompts
Prompt: Evergreen tree
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.

***

"Don't you think this could be considered just a little juvenile?" Ianto laughed as he followed the Doctor out of the Tardis and out into the bright sunlight. "I've never done anything like this, but you hear about kids doing it all the time."

"So, let's be childish for a day," the Doctor told him, smiling and reaching for his hand. "You know you want to, Ianto. I can see it in your eyes. You've never done this before, and it's something you've always wanted to do but never quite talked yourself into. Am I right?"

Ianto couldn't help laughing at the look on the Time Lord's face; he was sure that he'd never seen his lover looking quite so exuberant. "All right, I'll admit it. I've always wanted to do this, but I never thought that I actually would."

"Well, you're going to now!" the Doctor told him, twining his fingers through Ianto's and heading for a shady grove of evergreen trees near where the Tardis had landed. "We should be able to find the perfect tree here. There are plenty to choose from."

Ianto looked around them, squinting slightly in the sunlight that filtered through the green canopy. There were certainly plenty of trees; he wondered if they would be able to come back here in the future and be able to find the tree that they would choose.

"Are you sure that we'll recognize 'our' tree when we decide to come back and look for it?" he asked, wondering if that thought had also occurred to the Doctor. "We might not be able to, you know. They all have a tendency to look alike."

"I think we'd always be able to find the tree we pick out," the Doctor said, looking at him reproachfully. "Don't you think it would be easy to recognise it? After all, it would have to be a very special tree. I doubt we would ever forget what it looks like."

"All evergreen trees look the same!" Ianto protested, laughing. "But you're right. I think we'd be able to find our tree right away, truth be told." Looking around him again, Ianto spotted a large oak tree with leafy, spreading branches that somehow seemed to beckon to him.

He wandered over to the tree, laying a hand on its trunk, his eyes widening at the warm feel of the bark beneath his palm. It was almost as though this tree had called him to its side, knowing what they were going to do and approving of it.

That wasn't possible, of course. Even though a tree was obviously a living organism, it wasn't sentient, Ianto told himself sternly. Still, he hoped that the tree wouldn't feel as though it was being attacked by what he and the Doctor wanted to do.

"I like this one," he murmured, hoping that the Doctor would agree with him. There was something about this tree that would make it easy to recognize, and he was sure that he would be able to spot this one from the moment he looked into this grove of trees.

The Time Lord nodded, looking from the tree to Ianto and back again. "I do too," he said softly, laying his palm against the tree next to Ianto's. "Well, shall we do this? I want it to be quick, and as painless as possible for the tree."

Ianto nodded, looking at the stately oak again. "What we're doing signifies the love we have for each other," he said softly, hoping that his words didn't sound silly. "And this tree will be the living reminder of that. I hope it's seen as an honor, not a defilement."

The Doctor smiled at his words, reaching for his hand and squeezing it gently. "I think that's exactly how it's seen," he said softly, nodding. "There would be a feeling of .... well, disapproval .... if the tree didn't agree to what's in our minds."

Taking a deep breath, Ianto drew out his pocketknife and placed it against the bark of the tree. Slowly and carefully, he carved his initials deeply into the wood, surprised at how easily it was done -- almost as though the tree was somehow helping him along.

After he made the first downward line in the plus sign, he handed the small knife to the Doctor with a smile. "It's your turn, love," he said softly, indicating the carving in the bark. "The second line of that sign, and your initials."

The Doctor took the knife from Ianto, quickly carving the horizontal line, then the initials "T.D." Ianto couldn't help but smile; he hadn't expected his lover to carve his actual intiials there, and to him, it didn't matter. It was the emotion that counted, not the letters.

When the initials were carved, the Doctor began to draw half of a heart around their initials, then handed the knife to Ianto without a word. The young man drew the other half of the heart, connecting it at the bottom and stepping back to look at their handiwork.

Ianto couldn't take his eyes from their initials carved into the tree bark. Somehow, this seemed a perfect expression of what they felt for each other, even though it was something that he knew other lovers had done since time immemorial.

The Doctor turned to him, taking his hand and gazing into his eyes as he spoke, his voice quiet in the still, warm air. "This carving symbolises all the love I feel for you, Ianto Jones. Your initials joined with mine in an evergreen tree -- just as what I feel for you is evergreen."

Ianto's eyes filled with tears; he had to swallow hard a few times before he could speak. "My love for you will always grow stronger, Doctor. Just like this evergreen tree grows and flourishes with time, you and I will do the same. I promise you that."

This time, it was the Doctor's turn to blink back tears. Turning back towards the tree, both men gazed at the initials carved there, almost as though they couldn't believe that they'd done it. As one, they both reached out to trace their initials, their hands meeting against the bark as they did so.

Ianto reached for the Time Lord at the same time that the Doctor held out his arms; the young man pulled his lover into an embrace, their lips meeting in a kiss that took his breath away. It seemed to sear him to his very soul, fusing him indelibly with the man in his arms.

"Somehow, I think the tree doesn't have a problem with having our initials carved here," Ianto murmured when the two of them came up for air. "I didn't get that feeling at all. And you're right -- it's going to be very easy to come back and find 'our' tree."

"It's going to be here waiting for us," the Doctor told him, his voice soft and husky. "And we'll come back one day, Ianto. We'll come back and look at the initials carved here, and look back on this day as one of the best memories of our life together."

"A memory that will stay evergreen," Ianto whispered, leaning forward to claim the Doctor's lips with his own again. As he closed his eyes and lost himself in their kiss, he could almost feel a sense of satisfaction radiating from the glade all around them -- a feeling that was echoed within his own heart.

***