Title: Dancing on Ice
By: Anduria Trianys
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the fictional universes or characters. I'm just borrowing them temporarily for a bit of a laugh.
Summary: Set between 'A Day in the Death' and 'Something Borrowed'. After everything that's happened with Owen, Ianto decides that Jack needs a break. Pure Jack/Ianto fluff - unashamedly sweet and fluffy, in fact.

***

Ianto led Jack through the forest, his pale face shimmering in the moonlight. The snow fell in small flakes around them, covering the ground like a dusting of icing sugar on a cake. The place was almost dead silent, the only sound being a slight breeze whispering through the trees, playing a strange tune on the branches.

Jack shivered; even with his military coat, the cold was still reaching his bones. "Where are we going?" he asked, trying as hard as he could not to whine when he knew that Ianto was doing this for him.

"Not far now," replied Ianto, turning to give him a smile. "Just a little further and then I'll warm you up properly." He squeezed Jack's hand, but was instantly pulled into a tight embrace. "What was that for?"

"What, can't a man show affection to his boyfriend once in a while?" Jack laughed, but there was a slight tremor to his voice.

Ianto blinked in surprise at the word 'boyfriend'. He knew that Jack was committed to him – he had shown that in so many small ways – but he never thought he would hear him use that word; Jack hated labels; that was common knowledge.

Shrugging his shoulders, he took Jack's hand and they walked on, Jack humming under his breath.

After about twenty minutes, they came to a circle of trees in the middle of a clearing. Ianto parted the branches and revealed an enormous lake, opaque with ice and a small cabin set back and surrounded by trees.

"Oh, Ianto," breathed Jack as he came closer to look. "It's beautiful."

"I used to come here a lot when I was in my teens," explained Ianto. "It was a really special place for me; like a haven for when I needed to be alone or to think, and now I want to share it with you."

He turned round and stroked Jack's cheek. "You've gone through a lot over the past weeks Jack, what with everything that's happened with Owen. I want to be there for you and give you a few days away from everything. Forget the Rift, forget Torchwood, forget Captain Jack Harkness – this is all about you."

Jack didn't know what to say to that, so he kissed Ianto softly and let him escort him to the cabin where they changed into the new skates Ianto had bought in secret.

"Can you skate?" Ianto asked as they stepped onto the ice.

"Not very well, admitted Jack. "I went skating once, many years ago – on the night that I first met the woman who would become my wife."

Ianto blinked at him. "You were married?"

"Once," Jack nodded, his eyes turning sad. "She was an amazing woman; beautiful, kind and loyal, but with nerves of steel underneath. You would have loved her." He laughed slightly. "She gave me that little white handkerchief that I always carry with me."

"What happened to her?"

"We were out walking one winter's night, a year after we married. It was just the two of us on a bitterly cold night, but I had never been so happy." Jack sighed. "On the road, we were attacked by something – don't ask me what it was, because to this day, I honestly don't know. Anyway, she defended herself extremely well against them, but then they moved to strike a killing blow and – I stepped in to take it for her."

"She saw you die?"

"Yeah – she didn't know about…me and she thought I was dead permanently, just like you all did after Abaddon; I was out for a long time. When I came round again, the first thing I learned was that she was dead."

He took a deep breath, his vision blurred by snowflakes and tears. "She was two months pregnant at the time and the shock of what happened sent her into premature labour. She lost the baby and then died a short while later. I was never told how."

"Oh, Jack," Ianto whispered, drawing him into his arms. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise."

"I haven't been ice-skating since the night I met her. When she died, I honestly thought that I would never skate again."

"We don't have to stay here," said Ianto softly, stroking Jack's hair as he cried softly into his shoulder. "We can go somewhere else, anywhere you –"

Jack shook his head and wiped his eyes. "No. We don't have to go anywhere, not after you've done this for me. I can't grieve for ever. She wouldn't want me to do that."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Jack took Ianto's hand and led him onto the lake. "I'm ready to skate again."

He pulled his lover close to him and rested one hand on his waist and the other on his shoulder and together they moved over the ice, drawing circles with the blades of the skates as the snow fell thickly around them. After a moment, Jack became aware that Ianto had started to sing and he tilted his head to listen closer to him.

"You do something to me; something deep inside.

I'm hanging on the wire, for love I'll never find."

Jack smiled sadly and pressed his face into Ianto's hair, whispering into the soft curls.

"You do something wonderful, chase it all away.

Mixing my emotions throws me back again."

He swallowed hard. Oh, Ianto, he thought, I wish I could tell you how wonderful you are. Indeed, while they stood, wrapped in each other's arms and dancing on the ice, he realised that Ianto had, intentionally or not, given him the greatest gift he could ask for – himself. He had allowed him to stop being the leader and just be Jack.

"And I wouldn't change that for the world."

The moment was almost ruined, however, when he suddenly stumbled and slipped over. He would have fallen straight onto the ice if Ianto had not bent over and thrown out an arm to support him. Smiling slightly, the younger man lifted him up and steadied him.

"You okay?"

Jack nodded. "This actually happened the first time as well," he admitted. "I slipped and fell over and she came and helped me up." He rubbed his nose against Ianto's. "God, you're freezing," he said, shrugging off his coat and throwing it around his partner. "Here, put this on, you're always saying how much you love it."

"But then won't you be cold?"

Jack shrugged. "You're more important. I don't want you catching hypothermia or anything." The words were light, but the meaning was clear from the look in his eyes.

"Perhaps we should go inside," Ianto said quickly, noticing the look. "I am a little chilled, now you mention it and I could do with you warming me up…just as I seem to recall I promised to do to you earlier…"

Jack chuckled and together they glided off the lake and back into the cabin. Ianto sat him down on an old sofa and bent down to light the fire.

"Don't even think about it." he said as Jack moved to help. "I said that these few days were about you. You're going to sit back, relax and let me take care of you. You need it."

When the fire was roaring and he had fetched a thick blanket from the next room, Ianto sat on the sofa next to Jack and kissed him softly on the lips. "You are cold," he stated, wrapping the blanket closely around him.

However, Jack stopped him before he could get wrapped up in the entire thing. "Come here," he said, drawing him closer and sitting him on his lap. "You're not sitting over there when you're easily as cold as I am." He wrapped the blanket tightly around both of them and smiled as Ianto snuggled closer, mumbling to himself. "Hey," he said suddenly, "thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me."

"It's the least I could do," Ianto replied, his voice muffled by the blanket.

Jack smiled and leaned down to kiss him gently, before staring straight into his eyes.

"I love you," he whispered.

For a moment, Ianto looked shocked and Jack wondered if he had just made a huge mistake. But then, the younger man's beautiful face melted into a smile.

"I love you too," he whispered."

***