Title: Up All Night
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: VRD challenge - Purple, 5_prompts
Prompt: Mauve shadows under the eyes
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.

***

The Doctor looked up as Ianto came into the kitchen, smiling at the sight of his young lover. Ianto yawned, leaning against the door frame, blinking slightly in the bright light. He didn't have to ask what the Time Lord was doing here; it was all too obvious.

Ever since the disturbing dreams had started, the Doctor had been staying up most of the night. At first, they'd only attacked him every few nights, but now, they were becoming a commonplace occurrence. It wasn't unusual for the Doctor to go for a few nights with no sleep.

Of course, he didn't need as much sleep as a human did; Ianto had known that since the beginning of their relationship. But he did need sleep, and he hadn't been getting nearly as much as he should. The strain was beginning to show.

Ianto took in the mauve shadows under his lover's eyes, shadows that looked like smudges against the paleness of his skin. The bright light from overhead made them look that much darker, underscoring the tired, wan expression on the Time Lord's face.

"Another dream?" he asked softly, knowing the answer even before he saw the Doctor's hesitant nod of affirmation. Sighing, he crossed the kitchen floor to sit down opposite the Time Lord at the table, looking over at his lover with a frown.

"This has got to stop, Doctor," he said, reaching across the table to take the Doctor's hand in his own. "We might not know exactly how to do that, but we've got to think of a way. We know the Master is behind this, so we have to draw him out and confront him."

"We can't stop him, Ianto." The Doctor's voice was soft and regretful; he shook his head as he looked across the table at his lover, their gazes meeting and locking. "We'll have to deal with this until he chooses to find us. You don't know how good he can be at hiding himself."

"Yes, I do," Ianto answered, his tone grim. "I know how good he was at seeming to come at us from out of nowhere the last time he had both of us at his mercy. So yes, I do know just how wily he is at hiding himself when he doesn't want to be found."

"I'm sorry, Ianto," the Doctor murmured, his voice contrite. "I didn't mean that you haven't had your own personal experiences with him. But I've known him for centuries -- and I know all too well how hard it can be to force his hand."

"Well, we're going to," Ianto told him, standing up and moving around the table to stand by the Doctor's chair. "I'm not going to stand by and watch him break you down like this. There has to be something we can do to bring him out of hiding."

The Doctor sighed, standing up and turning to his lover. Ianto reached out to run a gentle thumb under the Time Lord's right eye, stroking the slight discoloration. "I can tell that you aren't getting any sleep. You don't usually have shadows under your eyes like this."

"I don't need as much sleep as you do," the Doctor said, his tone conveying his worry. "My fear is that he'll start trying to invade your dreams, too -- and if he does, then neither of us will be in a fit state to face off with him when he finally shows himself."

"I've had a few bad dreams since all of this started," Ianto told him, frowning. "But nothing along the lines of what you've been dealing with. So I don't think that he's managed to invade my dreams yet -- but we can't be sure of that, of course."

"Given that you have such a strong bond with me, he may be able to get at you through that," the Time Lord murmured, sighing as his gaze met Ianto's. "I know that we've looked at that possibility before -- but I think it's something we have to think about more seriously now."

"If he gets to me, then we'll deal with that when it happens," Ianto told him, squeezing the other man's hand reassuringly. "Maybe we'll actually find him and confront him before that happens." He hoped that was true; he wasn't so sure that the Master hadn't already found a way into his dreams.

The dreams that he'd been having were becoming more disquieting as time went on -- but Ianto wasn't entirely sure that they came from the Master. He couldn't help but feel that his sleep was disturbed more because of the fact that he was worried about his lover.

His own worries about the Doctor had kept him awake and caused him to have a few bad dreams, Ianto assured himself. The Master could have gotten into his mind, of course -- but he wasn't willingto admit yet that it had actually happened until he had more proof.

Hopefully, he was right. It was bad enough that he was getting to the Doctor, he thought, gazing into his lover's face. The Time Lord looked exhausted; he couldn't keep going for much longer without getting some much-needed rest.

Those shadows under his eyes were looking more and more pronounced in the past few days; Ianto knew that the two of them had to find the Master and put a stop to this. If his plan was to try to break the Doctor down by degrees, then it was succeeding admirably.

In the meantime, he could at least take his lover to bed and hold him -- maybe even help him to relax enough to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep that the Master wouldn't be able to penetrate. It didn't seem likely, but there was always hope.

"Let's go back to bed," Ianto told the Doctor, sighing softly. "If you can't sleep, at least you can lie there in my arms with your eyes closed, and maybe that'll give you a bit of rest. It's better than sitting here worrying and forcing yourself to stay up all night."

The Doctor nodded reluctantly, letting his young lover lead him out of the kitchen back towards their bedroom. Maybe now they would both be tired enough to sleep, Ianto thought as he led the way. But somehow, that hope seemed to be diminishing with each step they took.

***