Title: Hand in Hand
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, 50ficlets
Prompt: 5, Bond
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 and the Doctor stood side by side in a small glade, silvery moonlight cascading down on them. The moon made the night as bright as the day would have been, Ianto thought, looking up into the darkened sky. He could see perfectly.

This was a planet they'd been to before -- a beautiful place that the Doctor had said held a special place in his hearts. It had been somewhere that he'd gone to relax, or when he needed to think -- a place that could soothe his soul.

It made sense that he had wanted to bond with Ianto here. The young man quite agreed with his lover; this was a place for beginnings, a place where two lovers could declare what they meant to each other in a beautifully romantic setting.

He turned towards the Time Lord, a smile curving his lips as he took in the other man's features. This was the man he'd always loved, the man he was meant to be with. There had been no doubt in his mind about that from the first moment they'd met.

There had been an electric shock that coursed through him when he'd first seen that face; a feeling that at long last, he'd finally laid eyes on the person who had flitted through his dreams, who had only been a dark shadowy presence in his heart until now.

And now he was here with the Doctor, ready to declare that love in words, in a ceremony that was sacred to the man he loved. It was something like a wedding, the Doctor had told him, a ritual that would bond the two of them for their entire existences.

Ianto had wanted to say that humans did the same -- but the thought of divorce had flashed across his mind, and he'd held his tongue. Of course this was a different ritual from a wedding; this wouldn't be something that could be severed if either of them chose to.

No, this was a bond that would bring the two of them together, not only for the remainder of their lives in this realm, but in any other that might exist. He was joining himself to the Doctor not only for life, but for eternity. And he was more than ready to do so.

He would lay down his life for this man -- and he had, several times. He would do it again in a heartbeat, without a second thought. The Doctor meant more to him than his own life, more than anything in the world had ever meant.

Turning towards his lover, Ianto caught his breath at the look on the Doctor's face. The Time Lord was gazing at him with such love in the fathomless depths of those dark brown eyes that he felt dazed, unable to speak or even to think.

All the love in the world was in that gaze; a love that he himself felt to the depths of his being. He had thought he'd been in love before, but nothing he'd felt could have possibly prepared him for the emotions the Doctor brought to the surface.

"Are you ready?" the Time Lord asked, his voice strong and steady. Ianto heard no trace of hesitation in that tone; the Doctor's words were said softly, but with all the conviction in the world underlying the question. "There's no rush, Ianto. Take your time."

Ianto reached out a hand to place it against his lover's cheek, letting his fingertips stroke over that soft skin. He had to swallow hard past the lump in his throat before he could speak, his words soft and husky in the quiet of their surroundings.

"More ready than I've ever been for anything in my life," he murmured, his breath catching in his throat again. "This is the most important step that I've ever taken in my life, and I thought I'd be nervous. But I'm not. I'm just .... sure. Absolutely sure."

"This is for us, Ianto," the Doctor said softly, raising a hand to mirror Ianto's touch. His soft fingertips traced the outline of his young lover's lips, his words as gentle as the caress was. "This is to join our hearts and souls for the rest of eternity. It's a private matter, you know."

"I'm glad it is," Ianto told him, turning his head slightly to press a kiss against the Doctor's palm. "If we had a wedding ceremony on Earth, with people watching us, it would feel .... intrusive. I don't need an audience to hear me proclaim how I feel about you. I know it in my heart."

"A lifebond isn't meant to be witnessed by others," the Time Lord told him, smiling. "It's for the two people involved, and no one else. It's a bond that will exist forever between us, Ianto. It's only meant for us, not for an audience."

"I'm ready to bond with you, Doctor," Ianto whispered. "I have been from the first moment we met." Standing there hand in hand with the man he loved, he was secure in the knowledge that when this ritual was done, the bond between them would be even more unbreakable than it already was.

***