Title: Take A Stand
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4, 50episodes
Prompt: 31, Sixth Sense
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.

***

They were here. At Torchwood. It hadn't changed much since his last visit, the Doctor thought, sighing as he leaned back on the couch and looked around. The only difference was there seemed to be a kind of tension in the air that had never existed before.

But after what he and Ianto had imparted to the Torchwood team about what was happening with their dreams, he should have expected that. If the Master had indeed found a way into their subconscious minds, it could lead to unexpectedly dangerous places.

Jack and the rest of the team understood that if the Master could manage to invade his mind, and Ianto's by extension, then it might be possible for him to find a way into anyone's dreams. He might not even need the personal connection that he had with the Doctor.

It was frightening thought, not only for himself and Ianto, but for the world. If the Master found a way into people's subconscious minds, then there was no limit to the havoc he could create. And the Doctor knew that he would feel responsible for all of it.

After all, it was due to him and the Master's single-minded determination to destroy him -- or to somehow own him -- that had caused all of this. He could place the blame for anything that might happen from here on out squarely on his own shoulders.

It probably wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't been in an attractive body this time around, the Doctor thought, looking down at himself. He loved this body, but at a time like this, he definitely wished that it was less appealing to his greatest enemy.

He'd been so overjoyed to find out what he looked like when he'd first stood in front of a mirror after this last regeneration. For the first time, he actually liked the body he'd been given .He couldn't ever remember being so happy with one before.

If not for the Master's attraction to him, this regeneration would have been the best one he'd ever lived in. But that madman had seemed to be on his heels everywhere that he went; even when he wasn't around, he was in the back of the Doctor's mind.

At least he had Ianto, the Doctor thought with a smile. Falling in love with the young Welshman had changed everything in his life; he'd never been this happy before in any of his lives. Finding his soul mate had rejuvenated him in ways that he wouldn't have believed possible.

But there was still a dark cloud hanging over his happiness, one that he knew wasn't going to go away until the two of them confronted the Master and defeated this threat. There had to be a way for them to do so, even if that required the help of others, like the Torchwood team.

Usually, he could push those kinds of thoughts aside; there had always been darkness in his life, and he had always accepted it up until now. The way he saw it, darkness was necessary, even though life might seem as if it would be a lot easier if it didn't exist.

There had to be a certain amount of darkness in anyone's life for them to appreciate the light. Everything was a double-sided coin; there was always bad to balance out the good. Until now, he'd accepted that, and even felt that it was the proper way of the universe.

This was completely different. This was a case of the Master not only finding a way to invade his own dreams, but Ianto's as well, using him as the means to find a way into his lover's mind. And it was that apparent ability that frightened him more than he could say.

Who knew how many other people that the Doctor had become close to over the centuries might be susceptible to whatever form of control the Master could exercise over their dreams? And he had no way of warning most of them. Possibly not any of them.

There was no way for him to know how many people whose lives he'd touched, how many people that the Master might be able to snare in this web he was industriously spinning for himself. And maybe that was part of his plan.

If the Doctor didn't know what he was planning, and if these disturbing dreams -- or rather, the memories that tore at his peace of mind every time he fell asleep -- then it would be so much easier for that plan to fall into place, with no chance of it being thwarted.

And that was more than likely what the Master was counting on, he thought. He wanted to keep the Doctor, and anyone connected with him, out of step and off balance. And getting into their subconscious minds was a perfect way to do so.

He might have been able to push aside some of his worries in the past, but now, there was a kind of sixth sense that was creeping up on him, a prickling of his senses that alerted him to what might possibly be a more dangerous situation than any he'd ever been in before.

Not only was he right in the middle of this, but Ianto had been dragged into it as well, by association with him. That was what angered him the most -- the fact that the Master was daring to strike out at the man he loved. That was what made him ready to take a stand.

This wasn't a situation that he could let go on any longer, the Doctor told himself grimly. He had to find some way to confront the Master, no matter what the cost to him personally might be. At this point, there could be many more people involved than simply himself and his boyfriend.

The Master had to be stopped, in any way possible. He only hoped that he wouldn't have to make the ultimate sacrifice and give in to a regeneration for that to happen. If he did .... then there was a very good chance that he could lose everything he held most dear.

He could lose Ianto. And without the man he loved, life wouldn't be worth living. Oh, he could still exist; he could still travel through the stars and be who and what he was. He could hold on to his life, but it wouldn't be much of a life for him without his lover by his side.

It would merely be an existence -- and one that he didn't particuarly want to have, at that. It would be the worst punishment that the Master could inflict on him, even worse than whatever physical pain that their battles might inflict on his body.

And the Master knew that. He knew how the Doctor felt about Ianto; he knew that losing the man he loved, his soul mate, the person he'd bonded with, would completely unman him. That was probably just what that evil madman was hoping to accomplish.

That sixth sense of his was telling him to protect all the people he cared for, to get them as far away from what he feared might be the battleground of his confrontation with the Master -- the Hub. He was sure that the other man had herded him towards this place for a reason.

The Doctor closed his eyes, a shiver going through his body. He came here to Cardiff to refuel from the Rift, and the Master knew that the Torchwood headquarters were here. It made sense that he would try to force their confrontation to take place in this location.

If that confrontation had to be here, then so be it. But he was going to do everything he could to make sure it remained between himself and the Master, without putting his friends and the man he loved in the path of danger. It was the least he could do for them.

The last thing he wanted was for anyone he cared about to be put in the middle of his personal battle with the Master. It had happened far too many times in the past -- and he wasn't willing to sacrifice anyone else he cared about on the altar of that bastard's jealousy.

Ianto had been drawn into this because of his bond with the Doctor, which was the worst part of it all. He wasn't going to drag the man he loved into this fight if he could help it -- and, truth be told, he didn't want Jack and his other friends there, either.

He was the one who had led the enemy here, and he was the one who would face that enemy. He only hoped that he would have the strength and resources at his command to defeat that enemy -- or his sixth sense might be right in in feeling that this would all end in tears and devastation.

***