Title: Come Back and Stay
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: 25fluffyfics
Prompt: 22, Parting
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.

***

"Ianto, it's not going to be forever."

The Doctor had difficulty getting those words out; the truth was, he didn't know how long he might be gone, and he didn't want to leave. But he had to. He couldn't stay in one place for long; he was a traveller, and always had been.

But before Ianto had come into his life, he'd never had anyone who had to be left behind. He'd never had someone tug at his hearts the way this man did; there had never been anyone who had made him want to give up the life he led to be with them.

All he wanted to do was hold out his arms, to tell Ianto that he wouldn't leave, that his place was here and that he could stay with his lover forever.

If only he could. He closed his eyes, swallowing hard, trying to force back the large lump that had taken up residence somewhere in his throat. He had a feeling that it would be a very long time before it went away -- if it ever did.

The worst thing wasn't knowing that he would have to leave, that he'd be away from Ianto for some indeterminate amount of time. No, the worst thing was seeing his young lover standing there, looking so utterly helpless and forlorn.

He'd tried to break it gently to Ianto that he needed to leave -- and he thougth that the other man would be able to accept that, and calmly wait for him to come back. But he hadn't known just how much it would hurt for him to leave.

He hadn't expected to see that look of utter desolation on Ianto's face, the look that said without words that Ianto didn't believe he would come back. He'd seen that look before, but it had never torn at his hearts the way it did now.

Ianto nodded, fighting back tears as he spoke. "I know .... but it's going to seem like forever. Especially because I don't know when you'll be back."

The Doctor could hear the unspoken words in his tone. Ianto didn't know if he would be back. He wanted to assure his lover that he would come back, that nothing would keep him away, that Ianto meant more to him than anything else in the world and he wouldn't just leave.

But he couldn't do that. He had no idea when he would make his way back to Earth -- and it wasn't fair to leave Ianto with the assurances that he would be able to come back sometime soon. That would hurt him more than telling him the truth.

Why did it always have to come to this? Someone he cared for not being able to accept the fact that he had to leave?

It happened time and time again, and there was nothing he could do to change it. Nothing but stay -- and that was something he couldn't do. He'd searched his hearts and soul for a long time before he had made this decision, and he knew that he was doing the right thing.

Though leaving Ianto behind definitely wasn't right. For either of them.

Ianto was only a few feet away from him, staring at him from across that short distance. But it felt to the Doctor as though a huge chasm had opened up between them -- one that they would never be able to cross again if they left things like this.

He could almost feel his hearts breaking in his chest when Ianto turned away, his voice low and choked with the tears he was holding back.

"I know you feel that you have to go," he whispered, his voice catching, the words coming out on a sob. "Just .... promise me one thing, Doctor. Promise me that someday, you'll come back and stay and I won't have to wonder where you are."

His own tears were overflowing now; he couldn't keep them back any more than Ianto could. In three steps, he crossed the space that was between himself and Ianto, wrapping his arms around the young man's waist from behind and laying his head on Ianto's shoulder.

"Come with me," he heard himself say, his voice sounding as though it didn't belong to him. "You don't have to stay here. I can't bear being away from you, Ianto. Come out into the stars with me, find out for yourself what it's like."

Had he really said that? Had he really asked Ianto to come with him?

He couldn't bear for them to part. Not like this, not with their relationship hanging in the balance. Maybe they would have to part sometime in the future; but he knew with a certainty that he'd never felt before that the time for them to go their separate ways wasn't now.

Ianto Jones belonged with him; he would do everything he could to convince this young man that he should be out amongst the stars by his side.

He couldn't leave Ianto behind. He couldn't condemn his lover to spending long, lonely nights looking up at the stars and wondering which one of them he was on, or if he was even still alive and thinking of him. He wouldn't make Ianto suffer through that kind of loneliness.

And, what was more, he wouldn't do that to himself, either. He'd spent enough of his life being lonely, wishing that he had someone in his life to care for him, to be by his side in everything that he did. He'd finally found that person in Ianto -- and he wasn't going to walk away.

It was too late for him to walk away from this man. It had been too late from the day they'd met.

What kind of a fool was he, to turn down the kind of love and constancy that Ianto was offering him when it was what he'd always wanted? Leaving Ianto would be the worst thing that he could do to either of them, and he wasn't going to live with that kind of regret.

Ianto had turned around, raising a hand to wipe his tears away, an incredulous look on his face as though he couldn't believe the words he'd heard.

"Do you mean it?" he whispered. The Doctor wanted to laugh aloud; the expression in Ianto's eyes was so hopeful, so full of a joy that he couldn't quite suppress, that he knew his lover would say yes. He nodded, his voice soft when he spoke.

"Of course I do. I can't leave you, Ianto. Not now -- not ever."

The next moment, he was in Ianto's arms, laughing and somehow crying at the same time. The Doctor had the feeling that he had narrowly avoided losing something precious, something that he would do anything to hold on to.

"Give me half an hour to pack a bag?" Ianto asked, tilting his head to the side, smiling into the Time Lord's face. The Doctor leaned forward to kiss him, nodding, not wanting to let him go but knowing that he would have to -- at least until they were safely on the Tardis.

And then, he would never have to let go of his love again, he told himself, smiling as he thought of the future they would explore together.

***