Title: Red Light
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 10
Prompt: 42, Amsterdam
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.

***

"Now that we're here, what do you propose that we do first?" the Doctor asked Ianto, looking around him with interest as the two of them strolled down a garishly lighted street. "This is my first trip to Amsterdam too, you know."

"Is it?" the young man asked, surprised. "I'd have thought that Jack would make sure the two of you came here. I thought the idea of all the unleashed sexuality in this city would have appealed to him more than any other place on Earth."

"Ah, but you know, Jack is used to open sexuality," the Doctor laughed, shaking his head. "Amsterdam would hold no surprises and no thrills for him. He'd merely shrug his shoulders and make some flippant remark about how behind the times the 21st century is."

Ianto couldn't help but laugh at that statement; it summed Jack up perfectly. "It's almost a shame that he can't go back to the century he came from," he said, shaking his head. "I think he'd be so much happier back there in a lot of ways.

But the Doctor disagreed with him. "No, I think you're wrong, Ianto," he said softly. "Jack needs to be where he is. He's dong a lot of good for the world that he wouldn't be doing if he were back in his own time, and he knows it. I think he's satisfied with where he is."

Ianto nodded, wanting to get away from the subject of Jack. Though he was still friends with his former lover, he and the Doctor were in a city renowned for its sexual freedom, and he wanted the focus to be on the two of them.

"I have no idea what we should do first," he murmured, stepping aside as a scantily clad woman brushed past him. He gripped the Doctor's hand more tightly, twining their fingers together and hoping that they wouldn't somehow be separated.

His attention was drawn from his contemplation of the buildings around them when he heard a quick indrawn gasp; he looked around to see a man, his face obscured by a broad-brimmed hat, slipping one arm around the Doctor's slender waist and bending his head to kiss the Time Lord's throat.

Ianto bit back his words of anger; instead, he cleared his throat loudly and waited for the man to raise his head and look at him. "He's with me," Ianto said, his words ringing out loud and clear. "Take your hands off him."

"How much for him?" the man asked, both arms wrapping around the Doctor's waist and pulling the Time Lord back against him. The Doctor struggled to free himself from the unwanted embrace, but the man was much bulkier and stronger, holding him easily.

"He's not for sale," the young man said curtly, reaching for the Doctor's arm. "He's mine, and he's priceless." Ianto didn't want to yank at the Doctor's arm, but he didn't feel that he had much of a choice. "Get away from him."

To his surprise, the man stepped back, releasing the Doctor and holding his hands up in the air. Without another word, he turned and walked in the opposite direction, leaving the Ianto and the Doctor standing there staring at each other.

"That was .... interesting," the Doctor murmured, adjusting his coat. "I didn't expect something like that. I knew that this country was a bit more relaxed than the places on Earth that I've usually been, but I wouldn't have thought --"

He broke off, his dark eyes narrowing as he stared in the direction that the man had gone. Ianto moved closer to him, sliding an arm around the Doctor's waist. "What is it, love? Did he say anything else that bothered you?"

The Doctor shook his head, a frown forming on his features. "No, it's not that. He didn't say anything other than what you heard -- he just kissed my neck, which was unsettling enough. But I --" His voice faltered as he turned back to face Ianto.

"Do I .... look as though I could be for sale?" he asked, a blush creeping into his pale cheeks. "What is it about me that makes people do things like that?" He glanced in the man's direction again, a slight shudder moving through his body.

"No, you don't look like you're for sale," Ianto hastened to assure the Time Lord, brushing his lips across the other man's cheek. "As for what it is about you .... well, you're an incredibly attractive man, you know. I don't like what he did, but I can hardly blame him."

A slight smile lifted the corners of the Doctor's mouth; within a few moments, he was smiling at his lover as though he'd never been upset. Ianto had to marvel at the quicksilver way the Time Lord's moods could change; he himself was still feeling a bit shaken.

"I suppose that I should be flattered by his question, then!" the Doctor said, his cheerfulness apparently restored. "Though if anyone tries something like that with you, they'll have to deal with the wrath of an angry Time Lord."

"And a Time Lord's angry boyfriend!" Ianto said, trying to push his uneasiness away. After all, in a city like Amsterdam, things like that were bound to happen, he reasoned. And they certainly didn't seem to be in one of the better districts of the city.

It wasn't a red light district -- at least, he didn't think so. Ianto scanned the street anxiously, but the people he could see looked respectable. It didn't seem as thought they'd inadvertently run into a part of the city reserved for hookers and the like.

Maybe that man had been drunk, he told himself, half-turning his head to glance back down the street. He hadn't seemed to be, but there was no telling. Or he could easily have been under the influence of some sort of mind-altering drug.

As his gaze swept the street behind them, Ianto could feel his blood turn to ice in his veins. He gasped aloud, pulling the Doctor closer against him. There was the man who had grabbed the Time Lord, in full view at the end of the block.

It was the Master. He would know that smiling countenance anywhere -- the smirk that fell just short of an outright grin, the madness that seemed to blaze out of those malevolent eyes and hit Ianto with the force of a speeding bullet.

For one wild moment, he thought of running back down the street and confronting the renegade Time Lord. But even as he did so, the Master doffed his hat, and disappeared down a side street. It would be useless to follow him; it was far too easy for him to get lost in this city.

"The Master," he whispered, though he knew that he didn't have to say the name aloud. The Doctor had obviously seen the other man too; his dark eyes were narrowed, the smile on his face now a scowl as he turned to Ianto with a bleak expression.

"Yes," the Time Lord murmured, leaning against Ianto as he stared down the block at the place where the Master had been standing. "He followed us here, Ianto. That isn't a good sign. It means that he's planning something."

A shiver went down Ianto's spine at the Doctor's words; there was an ominous note in the Time Lord's voice. "We're going to have to deal with him soon, aren't we? He wouldn't have followed us here just to see what we were doing."

"Indeed he wouldn't." The Doctor's tone was thoughtful; he took a deep breath, taking Ianto's hand in his and twining their fingers together. "I think our little sojourn in Amsterdam is over before we thought it would be. We need to get back to the Tardis. Now."

Ianto nodded, following the Doctor as the other man headed down the street in the direction they'd left the ship in. He couldn't help looking back over his shoulder once more, but there was no sign of the Master -- though Ianto had the sneaking suspicion that he was somewhere near.

He could almost feel that malevolent gaze on him, burning a hole through his back. Ianto had to resist the urge to break into a run; that would only make the Master laugh if he was indeed watching them from some hiding place.

This might not be a red light district, he thought to himself as they made their way down the street as quickly as they could, but seeing the Master had a red light effect on them. He'd brought them to a grinding halt -- and was now making them run for cover.

***