Title: Water God
Author: theohsocurlyone
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Torchwood belongs to Rusty and the BBC. Not me.
A/N: Originally written for horizonssing, this one went its own way and turned slightly angsty and not particularly summery. Eep!
Summary: If it takes an overly-dramatic Water God with a greatcoat to help him live, then he'll accept all he can get.

***

The silence is the absolute worst thing; worse than the dread that's slowly prickling her skin, worse than Jack's coat folded in her arms, far worse than the ripples in the water slowly dissipating as the minutes tick by.

There's nothing; just her, the wind, and fear stuck steadfast in her throat. The ripples have gone; the tide is coming in, and Jack's coat feels scratchy and sunwarmed underneath her hands. Her palms are sweating, and her eyes ache from squinting out at the ocean.

At long last, with a momentous whoosh of water and a strangled yell, the shape of a man emerges from the water, almost blending in with the endless blue around him. He struggles and flails for a moment before sinking back underneath.

"JACK!"

Gwen starts forward at the sight, almost slipping, but before she can move again he rises upwards, this time dragging an awkward dark shape in his arms. Agonisingly slowly, he drags himself through until he's underneath her feet; treading water and blinking salt out of his eyes.

"Get him out, get him out!" he shouts, and Gwen reaches down as far as she can to grab Ianto's hand and hoist him out of Jack's arms onto the pier. She nearly topples over with the effort; water seeping through her clothes and hair and making her shiver with the cold.

Ianto is as pale as she's ever seen him; white as a sheet, his hair scraped back from his face and his lips pale with the cold. He looks almost like a sleeping child; mask stripped away and vulnerability put in its place. She touches his cheek and almost recoils; he's like a block of ice. She grabs Jack's coat and wraps it around him, tucking it tight around his arms and legs.

Suddenly, Jack grabs hold of her foot from below, making her shriek in surprise, and pulls himself up out of the water and onto dry land.

"What the hell happened?" she shouts, still kneeling over Ianto.

"Ianto?" he says, softly, and the naked fear in his voice chills her far more than the water now dripping down her back.

He listens for breathing, feels for a pulse. Not a sign.

"Don't do this..." he mutters, gathering Ianto into his arms, opening his mouth with soaking wet fingers and breathing into it. "Don't you dare, come on, come on..."

He breathes again, and again, whilst Gwen watches with baited breath; taking the unconscious man's hands between hers and rubbing hard, to get his circulation going again, somehow. Jack silently wills Ianto to wake up, for the cold lips to grow warm against his. It's not like last time; he's safe, it's over, wake up, wake up...

With a choke and a gasp, Ianto finally jerks violently in Jack's arms, eyes wide with shock as he stares up at the two of them.

"Thank God!" Gwen breathes, stroking his cheek with her thumb. "We thought we'd lost you."

A cacophony of sirens fills the air and Jack looks up. Three police cars have drawn up at the edge of the Bay; in the distance he can see Andy emerging with several other officers.

"Gwen, go and deal with them; just get them out of the way."

She nods and struggles upwards, droplets of water flying from her hair as she runs across the boards to deal with the police.

Jack looks down at Ianto, who's got his eyes shut, attempting to breathe normally, shivering violently despite the coat.

"You idiot," Jack mutters, bending down and nuzzling Ianto's cheeks; warming his face with his own breath; "You idiot, you idiot."

"Cold." mumbles Ianto, leaning into Jack's touch.

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

Jack wraps the coat tighter around Ianto's body, stroking the hair back from his forehead.

"God, I was so..." he whispers, unable to finish. Or perhaps unwilling to let Ianto hear him.

Ianto opens his mouth to reply, but a sad little cough is all that comes out.

"Hang in there," Jack says with a weak attempt at a smile, "We'll get you warm soon."

"By all m-" Ianto's reply is broken by another cough.

Jack leans down. "What was that?"

"By all means, take your...take your time."

Jack grins, in spite of himself. He's on the mend already.

**************************

Jack makes no effort to leave once he's escorted Ianto home, and Ianto doesn't mention how glad he is to have him there; anything to rid himself of the memory of struggling in the water, surrounded by silence and dread, and cold, completely alone.

Of course, this does mean having to argue with him now that Jack's sure he's safe.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"Jack, you weren't there. Neither was Gwen; any longer and that thing would have blown itself to bits and taken the city with it. I had to neutralise it while I could."

"So you jumped into the sea wearing a suit?"

Ianto shrugs. "Well, I took the jacket and waistcoat off."

"Right, 'course. That makes all the difference."

Ianto looks at him squarely. "Jack. I saved the country. And you've done stupider things than, well. Had your trousers snagged."

Jack looks as if he's about to argue, but shuts his mouth before he can protest. The worry, Ianto notices, still hasn't completely left his face; even though Ianto is now warm, dry, and surrounded by so many blankets he feels like he's in a cocoon. He'd only been half-conscious; waking up soaking yet and choking on the pier, yet that expression of pure fear, and the enormity of relief, on Jack's face wouldn't be easy to forget.

"S'pose it's lucky I came to so quickly." he remarks, lightly, not quite meeting Jack's eyes.

"Mmm." Jack replies, in the same tone.

Ianto sighs; if Jack wasn't prepared to mention that talent of his, then it was useless pushing it. But he'd awoken with life suddenly surging through his veins, seemingly from nowhere, and he can't get used to the fact that Jack can give life; bring someone from beyond the cold, freezing brink, whether it be with a glove or a kiss. It's one of the only things about Jack that makes him uncomfortable, faintly scared; that he has so much power over life and death and exercises it with barely a thought.

He traverses the line between Man and God at times like that; and Ianto doesn't know how to feel, because as unsettling as it is to think of Jack dispelling death with his lips, Ianto wants to live. He doesn't want to die, freezing and alone in Cardiff Bay, saving the world from a creature that would be forgotten tomorrow.

If it takes a overly-dramatic Water God with a greatcoat to help him live, even when he's not meant to, then he'll accept all he can get.

"Stay the night?" Ianto asks quietly, busying himself with coffee mugs to avoid looking at Jack.

He misses the soft smile that appears on the other man's face.

"Wouldn't leave for the world."

***