Title: Final Destination
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: Buffet 2, fc_smorgasbord
Prompt: 67, Arrival
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 looked around him at the bright, clean kitchen of the Tardis. How could he ever live anywhere else, now that he'd been here for .... how long had it been? He really wasn't sure; time seemed to distort the longer he was here on the Tardis with the Doctor.

And it certainly didn't matter now, considering that he was immortal and had all the time in the world, he told himself, the thought still making him feel strange. He wasn't going to age perceptibly -- and he wasn't going to die. Not ever.

It still amazed him that such good fortune could have come his way; there had been times in the past when he'd almost envied Jack his ability to return from the dead, wondering what it would feel llike to be invincible, to know that death wasn't a worry any more.

Well, now he knew -- and it wasn't what he'd thought it would be. In a way, it was frightening, almost like having a responsibility thrust upon him that he wasn't ready to deal with. He owed it to the world to give back something for this gift he'd been granted.

Yet at the same time, he couldn't regret what had happened. After all, this meant that he could be with the Doctor for eternity -- there was no longer any fear of his life being cut short because of his human frailties. They had been superseded, put into the background.

He might only have one heart, unlike his Gallifreyan lover -- but he now had an infinite number of lives, just like the man he loved. And what was even better, he no longer had to fear that his lover would take on another body, another personality.

The Doctor would remain as he was forever; that had already been proven when his regeneration the night that Ianto had received his gift of immortality had been cut short. The two of them would go through eternity as they were, loving each other, growing ever closer.

It somehow seemed too good to be true, and Ianto couldn't help feeling that there had to be a catch, a fly in the honey somewhere. Gifts like this weren't just handed out indiscriminately; there would be a price to be paid, and he dreaded to find out what it was.

He knew what Jack would tell him. Jack would say that being immortal wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, and that sooner or later, Ianto would find himself wishing that it would end and leave him at peace. But the young man couldn't imagine ever having such a wish.

Jack was different from him, Ianto told himself, shaking his head. Jack didn't have anyone by his side, a lover who he treasured more than life itself. He could be cynical about his immortality -- because he had never been able to find anyone to share it with.

He'd had his lovers over the centuries -- even the Doctor and Ianto himself. But Jack had always been too foolish to hold on to the ones who could stay with him, instead choosing to give his heart to the people who would inevitably leave him.

But he couldn't really be upset that Jack had done that with him, could he? Ianto asked himself, wanting to be honest. If he hadn't, then he would have never found the Doctor -- or he would have turned the Time Lord away, thinking that he had already found his love.

Jack had been a springboard for him, a learning experience. He'd loved the immortal; he wouldn't deny that, now or ever. And he knew that in his own way, Jack had loved him. Just as he'd loved the Doctor. But it hadn't been the kind of love either of them needed.

No, they had found that love with each other -- and Jack had been instrumental in making that happen. Ianto knew that he and the Doctor would be forever indebted to Jack for doing so; his motives in bringing them together had, for once, been completely unselfish.

It still felt strange to know that all of the worries that had seemed to snap at his heels for so long were now removed, that he and his lover didn't have to worry about ever being separated. The two of them could go on forever, loving each other, growing stronger in that love with each passing day.

They'd arrived at a destination that almost everyone searched for, yearned to have for themselves, but which hardly anyone ever reached. Ianto didn't know anyone other than himself and Jack who had actually made it to this destination -- no one except the Doctor, of course.

But immortality was something that the Doctor could take for granted; even though he'd always thought that he would have to resign himself to having different bodies throughout that immortality, he still knew that he could go on forever.

It was different for him, Ianto thought with a sigh. This was something that he'd never expected, something that would probably feel odd for a while. It was almost as though he'd slipped into someone else's life, a life that he was only allowed to borrow for a while.

Well, he liked this borrowed life, Ianto told himself firmly. It was what he'd wanted from the first days he'd been with the Doctor -- the chance to be able to stay with the man he loved forever, without worrying about his human mortality and short life span.

Now that those worries had been taken away, the two of them had arrived at a stage of their relationship that Ianto had thought they would never find. There was nothing to hold them back from doing anything -- the two of them could truly think of themselves as invincible.

Or could they? He frowned at the thought; he didn't want to become too cocky about the gift he'd been given, or take it for granted. He knew how easy it was for the tables to turn, for miracles to unravel, for any gift to be suddenly snatched away.

It could happen all too quickly and easily, Ianto thought with a sigh. He and the Doctor could have their gift of forever taken away from them -- but hopefully, it wouldn't happen. All that they could do was live each day as it came to them, and hope that this would be permanent.

It would be, he told himself, keeping his inner voice firm and strong. There was no reason to doubt that it would. The Doctor didn't seem to have any doubts in his mind, and no questions other than just why this had happened now.

Obviously, it had something to do with the Master -- and just as obviously, he hadn't intended for either of them to have been granted the gift of immortality in the bodies that they wore now. But something had gone wrong, and his plans had culminated on an unexpected note.

Ianto couldn't help but be glad that they had apparently managed to foil the Master's plans -- whatever they might have been. But he still wanted to proceed with caution, even though he was fairly sure at this point that they'd won this round.

They had certainly arrived at a final destination that a lot of people would give a great deal to find -- one that he'd never even dared to dream about. And even though they hadn't come through it all completely unscathed, they were still as close as ever.

Closer, really, he told himself with a smile. He had never felt as though he belonged with the Time Lord so much as he did now; even though he still didn't consider himself the Doctor's equal in many ways, he felt more as though he was worthy of the man he loved.

Why should that be? His brow furrowed in a frown as he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. That was a question he didn't want to ask himself at the moment; there was no need to muse on whether he was the right person to be with the Doctor.

He was the right man to share the Doctor's life. The Time Lord had chosen him; they had bonded, their hearts and souls pledged to each other for all of eternity. They belonged together, and nothing was ever going to separate them.

Yes, their arrival at this part of their lives had been a long road, one that had been fraught with dangers and doubts. But they'd made it through, Ianto told himself as he headed out of the kitchen to look for the Doctor. And they would only become stronger as time went on.

***