Title: Two Hearts Beat As One
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: 3, letter100
Prompt: 2, Christmas
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own Ianto Jones or the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

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My dear Doctor,

It's hard for me to believe that this is our second Christmas together. But how different this one is from the last one -- I spent most of that Christmas Eve gazing up into the sky, wondering if I was going to see you again, or have a very lonely holiday.

I'm sure that you can imagine how overjoyed I was when you came back to me that night, and I knew that I would be able to spend Christmas with you in my arms. Though it was always in the back of my mind that I didn't know when you would have to leave again.

Spending last Christmas with you seemed like the most wonderful gift I could have gotten -- just having you there in my arms, waking up next to you on Christmas morning, see that beautiful smile directed at me when you awakened and opened your eyes.

This Christmas will be much the same, I hope. I want to wake up holding you in my arms, feeling you curled up in our bed next to me. I want to kiss you awake, see the look of love in those beautiful dark eyes when you emerge from sleep and look at me.

But there's going to be a big difference this year. I'll know that I don't have to worry about being left alone again when you go off into the stars.

That's never going to happen again. It took us such a long time to get to this point, my love -- for both of us to realise that I belong with you, that I always have and always will. There was a time when I had to wonder if you'd ever come to that conclusion.

I shouldn't have pushed you as hard as I did -- but I don't want to go into that. It's ancient history, over and done, buried in the past. What matters now is that we're together, and that neither of us will ever let the other go again.

Even all those times when you were out there somewhere in time and space, I never let you go in my heart, Doctor. I always kept the faith that you were coming back to me, even when the doubts tried to force themselves into my mind.

I always knew that you were out there thinking of me in the same way that my thoughts were never far from you. I could almost feel your dual hearts beating in time with mine -- knowing that whenever you were, those hearts were beating for me, just as my single heart beats for you.

Those two hearts of yours beat as one with mine, Doctor. They have ever since the first time I touched you, the first time I looked into those eyes and realised that you were my future. my destiny. I might not have known that in so many words, but I felt it nonetheless.

Every night when I would climb into bed and turn out the light, I remembered the feeling of your hearts beating against mine, their steady rhythm lulling me into sleep.

Now, I don't have to imagine those heartbeats -- they're right beside me, safe in my arms. This will be the most special Christmas in my memory, because I know that I'll be able to spend the entire holiday with you, and that I won't be wondering where you are.

I don't blame you for how I was feeling last year, beloved. I know that you wouldn't have been away from me if you hadn't felt that it was absolutely necessary for you to be gone. And no matter how much I worried, I always knew in my heart that you would come back to me.

I know that Christmas hasn't been a good time for you in most years past. There have always been too many terrible things happening to you -- especially as you seem to have had some regenerations take place around that time. But this year, those memories can be banished.

There'll just be the two of us, my love. We can do whatever we want to -- check into some romantic little hotel somewhere and watch the snow falling outside our window on Christmas Eve, or simply stay in the Tardis and celebrate the holiday in our own special way.

You don't have to worry about anyone calling you away from me, even if there's some emergency that happens to make you feel that you can't relax and enjoy the day. Because this time, if something like that were to happen, I'll be right there with you.

Even if that happens, I know that we'll both do our best to still make the day special. And it will be -- because even if we're facing danger, we'll be together.

When I wake up on Christmas morning, your hearts will be beating in rhythm with mine, all of them beating as one, in a rhythm that seals us together for eternity. No matter where I am, even when I'm not right beside you, my heart will always beat in time with both of yours.

My heart will always belong to you, Doctor, just as I know both of yours belong to me. And at this time of the year more so than any other, because this has traditionally been the time when I take stock of all that I have and feel grateful for it.

Last year, I thanked whatever gods there might be in the universe that I'd found the love of my life, and even though I felt a bit sad that you weren't with me all the time, I knew that having you in my heart was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

This year, I have even more reason to be grateful to whatever fate decreed that we find each other. I want this to be the most wonderful holiday either of us have ever had -- and I have the distinct feeling that we'll manage to do that, no matter where we are, just by being together.

Yours always,

Ianto

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