Title: Moonlight Flight
Author: ardea_herodias
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Kirin takes Jack to Ianto's house, and both men learn something. Follow-on story to Solstice and The Simplest Answer. I didn't quite mean for this to turn into a series, but it just kind of happened. No spoilers, just fun.

***

Ianto rang me while I was sitting on the tower with the Kirin...my "life" for the night, I told her. He called me to say that he had chicken tikka masala and a movie, and hinted at other things to come. I never know what to expect from him. He runs deeper than a glacier lake, can be just frosty and opaque, and damn if his eyes aren't exactly the same colour. I wonder if he knows just how amazing he is, and I wonder if I could share this moment with him.

Sarah volunteered to fly me there. Youngest Jewel, I probably should think, but Sarah is much easier, and besides I could never, ever say her name in her own language. I've never really ridden anything like a horse before (I can't think of Sarah as a horse, she's just not) and while I joke about riding bareback all the time it's just not the same thing. She told me as I sat on, You cannot fall off unless I make you. Once you mount up, you will be as safe as anything. I knew that I would live if I fell off, or at least not cease to exist, but it still hurts. But how could I not trust her? Besides, from the sparkle in her eyes this promised to be a lot of fun.

I straddled her blue body while more of those blue flames sparked from her legs. They wrapped around my legs, around my chest and waist, tying me to her with lines of fire. Normally I would have made jokes about bondage and pony riding, but they fell away from my lips. How could I think of sex around her? It made me feel more alive for a little while, and flirting was always fun, but this? Just touching her made me feel so alive. Like I hadn't felt in a long, long, long time. The feel of her under my hands took my breath away. And she hadn't even taken off from the tower! I'll never make it to heaven, but while I sat on her back I felt for just a moment like heaven came to me. A scent of summer and sunshine drifted up from the ropes of fire. Lean forward, grab my mane with your hands, and squeeze my body as hard as you can with your legs, she said. I did. She carefully walked to the edge of the tower and jumped off. Straight down. Those magnificent silver wings unfurled with a snap! She angled up, using the momentum of the jump to propel us upwards into the sky.

Flying in an airplane is nothing like flying in the hands of (or, in this case, astride) an angel. Sarah is terrifyingly fast in the air, faster than her body shape suggests. Zip through the air, bank, turn, up, down. Fly quickly, dodge, slip from side to side. I could feel her joy in flight radiating through my hands, like touching the TARDIS. My hands tangled into her mane, grasping for purchase, feeling over and over like I had sunken them into fast moving water. She sensed my fear and exhilaration, and responded by tightening the cords of flame. Barrel roll, side-slip, wingover, fold wings and dive. Suddenly she angled straight up, up, up, looking like she was headed for the moon. Heaving, lurching, straining for altitude, reaching for the stars–and then she leveled out and circled lazily over Cardiff. The moon silvered her face, my hands, so that all looked ghostly and insubstantial in the darkness. Her wings formed ghostly arcs, looking for all the world like slivers of new moon, fanning out to either side.For the third time when faced with this creature, at her birth and her revelation that she had looked into my soul and now, I found tears running down my face.

***

So Jack, where am I taking you?

Huh? Where are you taking me? Where am I going? Was I supposed to be somewhere?

Oh yeah, Ianto. I had been so taken into the flight that I forgot I was supposed to meet Ianto, where Ianto lived, nearly forgot his name. I certainly had forgotten my own, until Sarah broke the reverie. We must have been up here half an hour. "Somewhere down there?" So caught up was I that I had forgotten how cold it was, or that the Kirin's skin smelled like summertime, or that Ianto had made chicken tikka masala, or that I was still in Cardiff. Ianto? Her voice came into my mind. Is that where we're going?

"How did you know?" Had I just spoken for the first time since the flight started? With some surprise, I realized I was completely out of breath. I wasn't sure I wanted the ride to end, but I knew it was time to get to Ianto's. But oh, I hadn't felt this alive in so long, and I didn't want to give it up...

I heard you say his name. I did?

Not out loud, but you thought of him and I could see the picture of him in your mind. I didn't know his name but I remember him very well. He is the one with the heart of flame.

"He lives down there." I pointed towards a large neon BP sign. She drifted lazily down towards him. In case you are wondering, people can't see me unless I want them to. It goes with being empathic, I can make them believe that nothing unusual is happening. I can tell you were worried about that, the way you kept looking around while we were up on the tower.

"You weren't kidding when you said you read body language well, were you?" I joked. She merely snorted. That is good, though, no retcon to hand out on my way to a date. "Sarah, what do you mean, heart of flame?"

You were thinking of him earlier, and thinking like a deep, cold lake fed by water melting from a glacier. He's not. He has a heart of fire, I could feel that when we first met.

"What do you mean, a heart of fire?"

Exactly that. Fire. The flame feeds his passion, the deep passion you know he has but so rarely shows. Fire can warm you or burn you, heal you or destroy you, light your way or blind you. Right now he is most like a hearth fire, where people gather to feel safe, but only those who are close enough to the hearth can feel its warmth. Is that what draws you to him, that warmth?

I couldn't answer, I didn't know the answer. Wind coursed through her mane and blew my greatcoat out behind me. Sarah tilted her wings upward ever so slightly, slowing us down. "That way, down that road." I pointed, she turned, following so that we were flying just above the buildings on Ianto's street. "Here." Abruptly her body lifted upwards, knocking me off balance. She caught me with a tendril of flame, then finished backwinging to ground. When all four feet were down I jumped off.

"Will you wait here? I think he'd like to see you."

With pleasure. She stood in the driveway, wings folded, flames licking around her.

***

I opened the door and walked into the kitchen, hanging up my coat on the hooks and leaving my boots just inside the door. He was standing by the counter, facing away from me, pouring drinks. I reached for him, expecting a kiss, he turned, and recoiled away. "What's wrong, Yan?"

"Jack, what do you think you're playing at? You're half an hour later than you said you would be, your clothes are completely messed up, your face is flushed, and you smell like perfume, and not one I wear." His eyes were mutinous and he looked hurt. His voice was suffused with pain and anger. "What, you think you could have a quick shag before coming here?"

"Not where you think I have been, but I did go on the ride of my life."

"Jack," and his tone was warning, "tell me the truth, and not in a riddle."

I took his hand; he tried to pull back. I pulled him right close to me. "Follow me. What does the perfume smell like?"

His expression was so bitter. "It smells like flowers. Why does this matter?"

"Kind of like summertime?"

"Jack," and now he looked thunderous. "Tell me the truth. Now."

"I am. Come with me. The one I was with is outside and she is waiting for you."

"SHE??!!!"

"Ianto, just trust me. It's not what you think. And I have to show you, not tell you, because you wouldn't believe me if I told you." I still had his hand. He tried to wrest it away. I had to put one arm behind his back, still holding his hand, and basically drag him to the door. "She," I said, and pushed him outside.

Sarah raised her crested head and looked Ianto directly in the eyes–directly in his soul, I realized. Ianto stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw fell open. "Oh..." The Kirin paced forward, leaving footprints shaped like broken hearts. She stopped in front of him, wings folded, neck arched, facial tendrils streaming out to either side. I felt my throat close up, looking at two of the most beautiful creatures I knew look at one another.

He stood dumbfounded. "I, er, I'm sorry Jack," he mouthed.

"Go on, go say hello. I'll be inside." I winked at Sarah, who winked back, then turned and walked inside.

***

An hour or so later, Ianto came home. I looked up from the couch, where I'd been reading a magazine. His hair was windswept, his clothing rumpled, face all flushed, and he smelled like summer. He walked like he was unsteady on his feet. I stood up, not sure what to say to him. He had that faint golden glow surrounding him–had she blessed him with the Breath of Life again? Judging by the way those beautiful blue eyes seemed lit by fire from within, I guessed she had.

Without saying a word, he closed the distance between us with five great strides. Took both my hands, held them out to either side, and gave me a long, sweet, passionate kiss. I tilted back my head, oh it was just so good. He let go of my left hand and grabbed a handful of my hair–and suddenly I could feel that fire the Kirin had been talking about. It spread like a slow burn, warming my hands and feet, filling my chest, and in response I could feel that spark of life deep inside me roar unbidden to furious prominence. It pulsed in time to my heartbeat, to our heartbeats, flowing into Ianto in response to the fire he gave to me. His whole body started to glow bright gold, shining, sparkling gold...the same colour as Sarah's eyes. I felt like a dam had burst so that my life-energy was flooding him, giving fuel to that heart of flame...and there was nothing I could do about it. I had no control of it whatsoever. Nor did I want to control it. The more the life poured from me, the hotter that flame within him burned, and made me only want to pour more fuel on it so I could taste it and feel it. God, it was fantastic, and it probably would have gone on and on had Ianto not needed to stop for air.

We broke apart. Ianto kept hold of my right hand. I stepped back, feeling shaken and unable to meet his eyes. That Kirin! She brought me to tears three times, shook me to the core twice before and now because of her I was shaken to my foundations once again. I'd given Ianto a kiss of life before, although I don't know if he remembered it, but in all the times I'd kissed a person back to life (or in Carys's case, kept her alive), I'd always been in control of it. Never before had I given a kiss of life, well, by accident. And never before had I given a kiss of life and felt life being restored to me, not leaving me utterly drained and exhausted afterwards.

"Well. That was unexpected. Not unwelcome, but certainly unexpected." Ianto's voice was husky, and he was breathless. He sounded equal parts amused and amazed. With his free hand, he tilted my face to meet his, and led us both to the couch where neither of us would be in danger of falling down from our shaking knees. "What brought that on?"

"You did."

"I see." He smiled. "Sarah told me to tell you she's sorry that she caused you trouble earlier, when I thought you'd been out tomcatting around. She also told me to think of fire when I kissed you, that it would help you feel more alive. So I did." He paused. "Did it work?"

"Oh, Yan, it worked, my god it worked." I rubbed my face with my free hand. Did it ever work. I still felt weak at the knees and as shaky as a willow in the wind. "As far as tomcatting around, I was sitting on the tower again when you called. She found me there because she wanted to talk, and after you called she offered me a ride over here. I'm sorry it took so long. I truly had no idea how long I was in the air, it was just so amazing and I didn't want it to end. I'm sorry you got left hanging. I'm sorry I was so late and I'm sorry you felt like I'd hurt you."

"Jack? After that ride, I entirely understand, and no apology is needed. And here I was thinking how amazing she was when she was born. Doesn't hold a candle, does it?"

"Not even close." We sat side by side, silent for a moment.

"Jack?"

"Yan?"

"Kiss me like that again, will you?"

"With pleasure."

***