Title: How to die
By: ebonyjet
Pairing: mild Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Yeah .... Er ... Don't blame me for beig evil. Thank you to Bonzodog my loverly beta.
Summary: Down in the cells someones hanging from the celling but who is it?

***

Ianto Jones turned the corner. He'd been in the archives searching for the "life knife", for almost four hours now. The man's determined nature had forced him to go all the way into the cells, just in case Owen was taking the piss and hiding stuff from him again. But as the Welshman's soft blue eyes strayed into the next cell, he found something he would never of expected, or wanted to see.

A pair of scuffed brown booted feet hovered half way between the ceiling and floor, on which an overturned chair was lying. Ianto's eyes slowly shifted upwards, and a pair of dark blue trousers came into view. He took in the grisly scene in front of him, as an old fashioned grey blue military coat joined the trousers at the knee, and two arms hung loosely at what Ianto recognised as a man’s sides. A neck lolled to one side, with a length of thick horse hair rope wrapped tightly around it. A man stared blankly out at nothing. His skin was a horrific shade of light blue, making Ianto's rounded jaw drop, "Oh God!" He gasped, "No, no, no, no, NO!" Ianto struggled to unlock the door with his key card, lost in panicked thoughts. "Jack! NO please God no!" As soon as he was through the door, Ianto grabbed Jack's legs just above his knees, and pushed him up, holding him so the rope was slightly slacked. "Don't you dare die you bastard! You’re not doing this to us again!" He hissed through gritted teeth, as he took his right hand from Jack's legs, and holding his boss up with his other arm, he pushed the button in his blue tooth earpiece.

"Owen!" Ianto shouted down his communicator, grunting with the effort of holding Jack up with only one arm.
"Oi! Don't shout in my ear like that you prick!" Owen's grumpy voice replied.
"Owen, shut up and get down to cell twenty one, on floor eight. It's an emergency!"
"What kind of emergency?"
"The kind that means someone is going to die if you don't move! Hurry up!"
"Shit!"
Gwen joined the conversation, hearing the anguished tone in the Welshman’s voice. "Ianto, what's wrong?"
"Just get Tosh and come to cell twenty one on floor eight... NOW!"

***

Ianto waited, for what seemed like hours with his arms getting more and more tired as the time went on. "Jack, don't do this to us!"
Owen, Gwen, and Toshiko came skidding around the corner in front of the cell that was now open, with Ianto and Jack in.
"Oh dear God!" Gwen gasped, Toshiko froze solid, staring disbelievingly at Jack's blue tinted face, Owen joined Ianto in the cell but then stopped and stood stoke still.
Ianto's arms were killing him, and he shifted his feet uncomfortably, still desperately trying to keep the rope slacked. "Help me then!" He shouted at the others. "For God's sake!"

Gwen immediately sprung to life, pulling her black Torchwood Issue pistol from its holster at her side. She aimed it at the length of rope between the grey stone ceiling, and the top of Jack's head. A shot rang out, and suddenly all of Jack's weight was on Ianto's already exhausted body. His knees gave way, and he fell backwards, hitting his head with Jack on top of him. Owen pulled Jack off of Ianto, and used the knife his boss kept strapped around his right ankle to cut the rope from around Jack's extremely bruised neck. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Jack to inhale deep lungfuls of air, and get up.

Two minutes later, Ianto still lay on the floor next to a blue tinted Jack Harkness. "Owen?" He asked, gazing up at him expectantly.
"What? I don't know what’s happened!" Owen shrugged, getting to his knees and resting his right ear onto Jack's motionless chest. "I think I can hear his heart trying to beat, but he's not breathing. I don't know what’s going on."
Ianto rolled over, and crawled to where Jack lay. He tapped the side of his bosses face. "Jack? Jack, wake up!" Ianto whispered, still tapping his cheek, "Jack!"
Gwen shook her head, and stepped closer to Toshiko. "Not again."
Toshiko frowned, her eyes slowly filling with tears. "Why would he do this to himself? Why?"
"Jack!" The fear in Ianto's voice was replaced with anger, and he slapped the other man even harder. "Jack, wake the fuck up you bastard!" Jack didn't move, and Ianto tipped his head backwards, opened his mouth and pinched his nostrils shut. "He's not breathing, right?"
Owen nodded at Ianto. "Right."

The young Welshman took a deep breath, before covering the entirety of Jack mouth with his own, and emptied the contents of his lungs into Jack's. He repeated this process a few times, before sitting back on his heels and watching Jack for signs of life. "Come on, come on. Jack, please!" Ianto took another huge breath, and pressed his lips against Jack's, forcing oxygen down his swollen oesophagus and into his chest. Jack's lips moved to kiss Ianto back, pushing his tongue into Ianto's mouth, before gasping for breath as the younger man pulled away, glaring angrily down at him. "Fucking bastard!" Ianto pushed himself up onto his feet, before leaving the rest of the team to sort Jack out.

Jack lay on the floor facing the ceiling, and gasping for air that came in short rasping breaths. Owen helped him into a sitting position, and Gwen crouched next to him, one knee behind Jack's back, keeping him up right. Toshiko only just got the use of her legs back, when Jack was able to talk again.
"Sorry." He managed to croak in between deep and rasping breaths. Gwen placed a gentle hand on the back of Jack's neck, stroking it with her thumb. "S'ok."
"Jack, did you do that to yourself?." Tosh asked in her soft tones. Jack coughed, and rubbed his painful throat.
Owen concernedly pulled Jack's hand from his severely bruised, and rope burned neck so he could get a look at the extent of Jack's injuries. "Ok, this will be quite sore for the next couple of days, assuming you heal like a regular man. I don't really know how the whole you don't die thing works with injuries."

Jack swallowed hard, blinking the tears that had welled up in hiss eyes away. "Why did you lot come down here?"
"Ianto... .he found you and needed us to help get you down." Toshiko told him.
"Agh, Ianto!" Jack's skin was no longer blue, but a dodgy shade of white. "Can you three clean up down here for me? I've gotta go and..." Jack grunted as he got to his feet, panting for sweet oxygen, and left the cell before any of the others had a chance to stop him.

***

By the time the American found Ianto at the coffee machine, he was out of breath again, and he doubled over coughing violently.
"Jack, my God are you ok?" Ianto rushed over to Jack, and placed a hand on the other man’s heaving back. "Did Owen say you were alright to walk around?"
"I'm okay." Jack waved a hand at Ianto, shaking his head. "I'm okay."
"Good." The Welshman turned his back on his boss, and began to walk away.
"Ianto! Wait, just for a second." He coughed again. "Please?"

"Sir, what do you want?" Ianto asked, spinning around on his heel to glare at Jack.
"I'm sorry about what happened I didn't mean for you to..."
"To what Sir? Find my boss hanging from the ceiling in a locked cell? Why Jack? Why did you do it? I mean, were you trying to prove your immortality, or do you really want to die?"
"Can I have a coffee? Black, plenty of sugar." Jack asked, trying it get off that topic as fast as he could.
"Jack!" Ianto demanded angrily. "Jack, I asked you a question. Do you want to die?"
"Honestly, I don't know.....maybe."
"Sir, there comes a time when that stops being a way of avoiding the question and becomes total bullshit. Now, I’ll say it again, slowly. Jack - Harkness - do - you - want - to - die?"
"I don't know." Jack told him quietly, keeping eye contact all the while.
"
Then that’s not good enough! I found you hanging from the ceiling because you needed to know if you could die, and you don't even know if you wanted to or not! What the hell is wrong with you? How do you expect us to work for a man who can't decide if he's going to delete himself from existence!" Ianto asked softly, as he tried not to burst into tears. "Is there nothing worth living for? Fine you know what? If you can't fucking decide then I’ll do it for you. I don't want you to die, ok? Torchwood needs you, because you’re the only one that knows everything changes. We all just trust you, and if you die, who protects the world? ‘Cos it's not us." The Welshman swallowed hard to stop himself crying. "Like I said, I don't want you to die, you know why I know you do.… " He ground his teeth, and pointed viciously at Jack. "But I ever, EVER find you like that again, not only will I help you on your suicide mission, but I'll succeed. I'll show you how to die. CLEAR?" Jack nodded, coughing again, while he watched Ianto disappear around a nearby corner. "Remember that Jack."

"I don't wanna die." Jack whispered quietly to himself, "I just need some one to show me how to live. That’s why I chose Gwen... I couldn't see I wanted you."

***