Title: Awaken
By: Amy
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13

Toshiko looked up from her computer station when Gwen rushed through the armoury, leading a distraught Beth.

They were alone.

“Where’s Jack?” she asked, frowning, scanning the room.

“In the SUV,” Gwen replied tersely, and gave Toshiko a meaningful, fleeting look.

Toshiko knew only too well what that meant.

Toshiko saw Ianto’s jaw clench, but he said nothing. He activated the CCTV feed in the garage and stared at the monitor for a moment, his expression darkening. His suspicion confirmed, he turned and strode out of the Hub through the armoury door without a word. Gwen barely spared him a glance.

“Where’s Tea-Boy off to?” Owen asked to no one in particular.

Toshiko shot him a withering glare. Owen dropped his eyes and slunk into the Autopsy Bay, presumably to prepare a new containment cryochamber for Beth.

Toshiko opened the CCTV feed at her station and watched as Ianto stepped into the lift that led to the garage. After a couple of minutes he emerged on another window of CCTV coverage, approaching the parked-askew SUV.

Ianto unlatched the passenger door and stumbled as Jack’s dead weight slumped into him. He caught Jack’s body and, grimacing with the effort, carefully lowered him to the cold floor of the garage. Without a second thought, Ianto knelt on the dirty, oil-stained concrete and straightened out Jack’s body, running his hands over the rough wool of the greatcoat.

Toshiko watched as Ianto’s hands paused over Jack’s chest. He slowly stroked the gash in the coat, pulling away fingers sticky with drying blood. He stared at his splayed hands for a long moment. Ianto’s lips parted; his eyes widened and then slid closed.

She saw Ianto’s lips moving, but the CCTV wasn’t wired for sound. Her brow wrinkled slightly, the tip of her tongue poked between her lips, as she enhanced and magnified the feed, still unable to make out the shape of his words.

Ianto’s expression was more eloquent than words could ever be.

Toshiko’s heart clenched. Ianto had pushed the greatcoat aside and was examining the slowly-closing gash in Jack’s chest, still oozing blood around the rusty clots caught in the fabric of his torn shirt. Ianto slid the brace aside and ran his hand lightly over the wound, his face a study in shadows and agony and something Toshiko couldn’t identify.

She watched Ianto crawl to Jack’s head and hook his arms under Jack’s shoulders, shifting him enough to move behind him. Ianto reclined Jack against his chest and wound his arms around Jack’s biceps and torso, letting Jack’s weight lean on him.

Toshiko’s throat tightened painfully when Ianto buried his nose in Jack’s hair. His back hitched so slightly that no one except his closest friend might have discerned it. Ianto rocked Jack slowly, shifting his body to allow for Jack’s weight. Toshiko thought she noticed Ianto’s jaw working, but the dim, diffuse lighting in the garage left her uncertain.

Toshiko reflected that this was the second time Jack had died since his return from travelling with the Doctor. Perhaps Gwen and Beth had witnessed it – Toshiko didn’t know exactly what happened – but clearly Ianto was profoundly affected. And he hadn’t even been present to see it.

“What are you doing then?” asked Gwen, standing immediately behind Toshiko. “Is that the SUV? Is that Ianto?”

Toshiko started and whipped around, glaring at Gwen. “Don’t do that!”

Gwen stared, mouth imitating a goldfish.

Toshiko’s expression softened when she saw Gwen’s genuine concern. She managed a tight smile.

“Sorry. You startled me. Yeah, it’s Ianto. He’s with Jack.”

Gwen leaned over her shoulder – Toshiko hated that but held her peace – and hummed.

“What’s he doing?”

A tiny smile curved Toshiko’s lips.

“Watch,” she replied softly. She wasn’t sure, herself, what would happen, but Jack had died again. And she knew Ianto and what Jack’s deaths did to him.

They studied the monitor and watched Ianto’s hands stroke Jack’s arms soothingly as he clasped Jack close to his body.

Soon Ianto leant his head back, straightened his spine, and tightened his arms around Jack. Within moments Jack’s eyes shot open, wide and unseeing, and he gasped, chest heaving with the sharp inaugural breath. He thrashed in Ianto’s firm embrace, but Ianto held him in an iron grip. Ianto’s eyes squeezed closed, his brow furrowed. His lips pressed in a tight line while he patiently endured the violent throes of Jack’s resurrection.

Then Jack’s eyes seemed to focus, and he relaxed, sagging into the curve of Ianto’s chest. He inhaled deeply and flexed his legs experimentally. Toshiko and Gwen watched intently as Jack slowly craned his neck and looked up at Ianto, who was speaking. Jack smiled softly and reached up to press Ianto’s hands beneath his own as he replied. Ianto managed a ghost of a smile in return, but Toshiko clearly discerned the concern and sorrow still etched into his boyish features.

“Hmm. Imagine that,” said Gwen thoughtfully and a little puzzled. “I thought – I mean, since Jack came back, I didn’t think he and Ianto – ”

Toshiko deliberately kept her attention on the CCTV, refusing to allow Gwen to bait her. She huffed softly; to entertain the idea that Gwen Cooper might actually see what was right in front of her eyes might have been too much to expect.

But then, she considered, perhaps Gwen didn’t want to see it. Not seeing what was very obviously still there between Jack and Ianto meant not having to acknowledge it, accept it, and move the hell on. It allowed her to entertain fantasies that were no longer possible, and that had never been appropriate.

Toshiko heaved a mental sigh. There were times when the woman embodied the very essence of Egyptian royalty: Gwen Cooper, Queen of Denial.

Toshiko watched Ianto help Jack to stand, clasping Jack’s hand and cupping Jack’s elbow in his palm, steadying him. He brushed off Jack’s coat and fingered the rip in the fabric again, scowling, but she could see that Ianto’s heart really wasn’t into chastisements. Jack glanced at the tear and grinned sheepishly, then caught Ianto’s hand, lifted it to his lips, and gently kissed it.

Then, with his free hand, Jack tilted Ianto’s chin so that their eyes met.

Even with the less-than-perfect resolution of the feed, Toshiko could easily read Jack’s lips.

Thank you.

Toshiko couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face and lit her eyes. Finally. Maybe they can move on now. God knows it’s about time.

For the first time, Toshiko spotted the citizens’-band aerial duct-taped to the wing mirror in her periphery. She worried her lower lip between her teeth. That wouldn’t end well.

She saw Jack muster what dignity remained to him, straighten the collar of his greatcoat, and stumble precariously toward the lift door. Ianto stood motionless beside the SUV, but his eyes never wavered from Jack.

Toshiko toggled the key to switch views so she could watch Jack’s ascension into the Hub. She felt Ianto would want her to keep an eye on him.

The last thing Toshiko noticed before the garage CCTV feed closed was the thunderous expression settle on Ianto’s face when he turned and spied the aerial bastardizing the SUV.

She sighed again.

Toshiko knew Ianto. This definitely wouldn’t end well.

Still, she thought, it had been nice while it lasted.