Title: For All of Eternity
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 25fluffyfics
Prompt: 24, Writer's Choice -- Commitment
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.

***

"I wonder how many people on Earth take marriage as seriously as Gallifreyans take bonding?" Ianto mused, looking across the breakfast table at the Doctor. The Time Lord returned his look, brows raised in question, leaning back in his chair.

"I don't think so, love," he said, shaking his head. "Remember, there's no such thing as a way to break a bond. Even after one partner passes on, the bond is still there. It's not just for a lifetime -- it's forever. Human bonds don't seem to work that way."

"They certainly don't," Ianto said with a sigh. "I know more divorced people than I do married couples -- and I don't believe that humans really enter into their relationships with the idea that it's going to last forever. They don't have a reverence for relationships."

"Most species don't -- at least, not in the way that Gallifreyans do," the Doctor remarked, his gaze on Ianto. "But you do realise that not most Gallifreyans choose to bond. So many of them spend their lives as single people -- alone."

"Why is that?" Ianto asked, frowning. "It just seems strange to me, considering what I know of you and what you've told me of some of your friends on Gallifrey. And even your family. Your father didn't seem like the sort of person to spend his life without bonding."

"Ah, Gallifreyans are an emotional race -- or at least, they used to be," the Doctor said, regret in his tone. "They spent so long trying to be completely rational and deny their emotions that quite a few of them managed to lock their feelings away too completely."

"Your parents were bonded, weren't they?" Ianto inquired, keeping his voice soft. This was always a touchy subject for the Doctor; Ianto knew that talking about his mother could still cause him pain, as if he'd only lost her recently instead of centuries ago.

The Doctor nodded, looking down at the table. "Yes, they were. My father didn't intend to fall in love with my mother -- really, I don't think he wanted to fall in love with a human. But he couldn't resist her. No one could. Everyone loved her, not just him."

For just a moment, Ianto felt a stab of envy, wishing that his own mother could be like the Doctor's had been. People loved her, yes -- but she was essentially a satellite in his father's orbit, without the strength of character that the Doctor's mother had evinced.

"From what you've told me about her, she sounds like a wonderful person," Ianto told him, reaching across the table to take the Time Lord's hand in his. "And it sounds like she and your father were truly committed to each other, in every way."

"They were," the Doctor told him, swallowing hard. "You know it's hard for me to talk about my mother, Ianto. But maybe I should try to get over that. I have no reason not to talk about her with you. After all, she would have been your mother-in-law."

"She is my mother-in-law," Ianto murmured, squeezing the Doctor's fingers gently. "She's a part of you, part of what makes you who you are. And even though I've never met her, I love her for giving you to me. If not for her, then you wouldn't be here."

The Doctor nodded, raising his free hand to wipe at his eyes. "I miss her every day," he whispered, his voice choked. "When I was a child, a day didn't go by when I didn't think of her, and wish that I could be with her. I've always missed her."

"I know, love," Ianto said, his throat tightening. "I wish there was some way that we could change the past so that she would have been able to be with you longer -- but even for a Time Lord, some things just aren't possible. And at least you had some time with her."

"She was human," the Doctor said with a sigh. "She wouldn't be alive now, at any rate. So you could never have met her, Ianto. And even with all the good things I have to say about her, that doesn't paint a truly accurate picture of who she was."

"I know one thing about her that can't be denied," Ianto said, clearing his throat to push back the lump that had come into it. "I know that she was committed to your father, in the same way that you and I are committed to each other. She taught you that kind of commitment."

The Doctor nodded, a small smile coming to his lips. "Yes, she certainly did," he murmured, his gaze meeting Ianto's. "If not for her, I don't think I would have known how to love. My father wasn't a very loving person, other than with her. He never taught me that."

"Commitment isn't something that a person can learn. At least, I don't think so," Ianto told him. "It's either within someone's capabilities, already there in who they are, or it's not. I don't think that someone can be taught how to commit their hearts to another person."

"I don't know about that," the Doctor said with a frown. "I don't believe that my father was a committed sort of person, other than to his work. But when my mother came along -- he fell head over heels in love with her when they first met, and learned commitment from her."

"That may have been a special case," Ianto conceded. "It took falling in love to make your father realise what he was missing in his life, maybe? It definitely sounds that way. And your mother must have been a very special person to teach him the meaning of commitment."

"She was." The Doctor's voice had gone soft and husky again, and Ianto almost wished that he hadn't said those words. He didn't mind seeing his lover get emotional, but he hated to know that he might have made the Time Lord feel sad or regretful.

"Don't worry, Ianto." The Doctor's voice was steady; he still looked sad, but he obviously wasn't going to cry again. "I promise that I won't get overly emotional again. I suppose those emotions just caught me at one of my more vulnerable moments."

"We're both still getting used to the new lives we've been given," Ianto told him, smiling and squeezing his hand again. "And to the fact that our commitment isn't going to end with one of us going on in this world while the other one passes on into another realm."

"We've been given an amazing gift, Ianto," the Doctor said, his voice soft. "It was a gift for me to be able to find you, after all these centuries of wondering if I would ever find the one person I was meant to be bonded with. And now, this gift is even more special."

"It's still hard for me to believe that I won't ever have to say goodbye to you and wait for you to join me in another realm of being," Ianto whispered, his gaze still fixed on the Doctor's face. "That you and I will truly be able to be together forever."

"I used to tell people that forever was a long time -- and that they shouldn't set their sights on something that they couldn't reach," the Doctor told him, a catch in his voice. "Then Jack proved me wrong in that. And now -- I have even more reason to be glad that I'm proved wrong."

"If I hadn't proved you wrong, we would still be together," Ianto said, trying to lighten the mood. "We might not always be on the same physical plane, but our commitment would still be there, just as strong as ever. And I would be waiting for you."

"I know that, sweetheart," the Doctor said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "And that would have seen me through the time that I had to be apart from you physically. You'd have always been there in my hearts, but what we have now is much better."

Ianto nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with his lover. "I'd much rather be here with you," he said, taking a deep breath of his own. "I don't know what made all of this happen, but I'm grateful for it. It's like being given a whole new life, isn't it?"

"A whole new life, to go with the commitment we've made to each other," the Doctor murmured, leaning across the table to brush a gentle kiss across Ianto's lips. "It still seems fantastical, but it's happened -- and I don't think either of us have any regrets."

Ianto shook his head, still smiling. "I'll never regret anything that gives me more time with you," he said, his voice husky, his gaze taking in the man he loved. "The more time I have with you, the better. Forever is a long time, but somehow, it doesn't seem like long enough."

"Eternity isn't long enough for me to spend with you," the Doctor told him, standing up and holding out a hand to his lover. "But it'll have to be, I suppose. And we're going to find out just how long eternity will last. That's something I look forward to doing."

"And so do I," Ianto said, his smile growing wider. "The commitment I've made to you will last for longer than eternity, Doctor -- however long that might be." He moved closer to the Time Lord, sliding his arm around the Doctor's waist.

The Time Lord leaned against him, not saying a word, but Ianto knew that the other man was silently agreeing with his words. They had eternity to spend together -- and he was determined to make the most of every moment, for all of the eternity ahead of them.

***