Title: From Time to Eternity
Author: M. E. McCombs
Rating: NC-17 - Explicit Sex
Summary: Millenia have past since Jack lost Ianto. Now, as the Earth is murdered by the sun, an old friend comes to offer Jack his dearest wish.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Warnings: Character Death
Spoilers: No spoilers; set in the far future
Disclaimer: Torchwood is ©2006-2009 British Broadcasting Service Wales (BBC Wales). "Fire and Ice" is ©1920, 1923 Robert Frost. Copyrighted material is used without permission with no intention of profit from the works contained herein.
Original Publication/Copyright: 17 April 2010

From Time to Eternity

“Some say the world will end in fire,” the man murmured into the echoing silence. It didn’t matter if he remained on the viewing platform as the shielding failed allowing the solar radiation of the sun’s death to contaminate the space. He rested a splayed hand on the glass and stared down at the overheated planet. Millennia had passed since he last walked the Earth. Land masses drifted, changed, died and were reborn, yet his eyes could still see the blue-green ball the planet had been all those years before when he’d lived and loved in a rain swept city nestled in her northern latitudes.

“Some say in ice,” a softly accented voice answered him. He looked over his shoulder for a moment yet saw no one. He sighed into the quiet. For all the millennium since he’d run from his responsibilities as defender of the planet, he’d been haunted by that voice. He’d loved others, never as deeply or as well as that single soul, and even as he loved, sired children, mourned, he heard that voice speak softly, encouraging him to continue on.

“From what I’ve tasted of desire,” he continued. He remembered heated kisses, soft cries, and desperate begging. He could remember every moment so vividly as if it was merely yesterday not ages gone. “I hold with those who favor fire.”

“But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate,” the other answered again. This time he heard a soft footfall afterwards. Yet again he looked about and saw no one. He turned back to the window, a shudder raced over his skin as he watched the sun expand even more to nearly envelope the dying earth.

“To know that for destruction ice is great,” the voice murmured. It was closer now. He tensed. Every muscle clenching as he wondered if he was truly being haunted by the dead now. “And would suffice,” the voice finished the long forgotten poem.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder. He jumped, whirled, and stared in disbelief at the other on the platform. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said. A momentary smile graced his lips as he recalled the last time he said those words.

“Neither should you,” the other replied. “Isn’t it time to stop punishing yourself, Jack?”

“No one’s called me that in millennia,” the man, Jack, said. He surveyed the man before him. He was dressed in a well tailored suit in a black so dark as to rival the space beyond the dying star. His hair, long enough to brush his waist, was also black. It was such a dark color as to have a shimmering green tone to it. It reminded Jack of a long extinct raven’s wings. “So how do you know that name?”

“I know everything,” his companion replied. “Have I changed that much?”

“I…” Jack stared, surveyed the man again from the soles of his expensive leather shoes to the top of his head before staring intently into very familiar blue eyes. Eyes he’d never forgotten no matter who he lived with or loved in the years since they’d closed for the final time. “How?” he whispered as he reached a hand out to the other man. “Ianto…? Why now?”

“It’s a long story, sir,” Ianto replied. He reached up to take Jack’s hand. He held it loosely and entwined their fingers as he’d never dared to before Thames House. “If I could offer you anything you wanted, what is the greatest wish of your heart?”

“Aside from having you back, you mean?” A quirked eyebrow accompanied the nod he received as reply. Jack sighed softly. He shifted about to stand beside Ianto and stared unseeing out at the death of the Earth. “I’m tired, Ianto. I’ve lived so long, lost so much and…” he trailed off for a moment. “The Doctor says there’s nothing he can do for me. So why do you offer me an impossible thing? I’ll live to the end of the universe and get to discover whatever comes after as I’ll never end.”

“Jack,” Ianto said. “Even your Doctor isn’t all knowing and all powerful. I wouldn’t have asked if I couldn’t give you what you want.” He moved to stand between Jack and the window knowing what the move would reveal about him yet needing to see Jack’s face. “Do you want to die, Captain Jack Harkness?”

As Ianto stepped in front of him, Jack realized there was more to Ianto than the young man he could still so vividly remember from his life in Cardiff. His breath froze in his lungs as he felt the power coming off his former lover. His mind refused to accept what his eyes saw. He shook his head in denial even has he gasped in a breath to whisper, “Oh, goddess, Ianto, yes.”

Ianto smiled, took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck. He could feel the heat of the sun against his back as it exploded and enveloped the Earth in its fiery embrace. Ianto tangled his fingers in Jack’s hair, tugged him down and murmured, “Kiss me, Jack.”

Jack brought his hand up to cup Ianto’s cheek. His thumb stroked over the soft skin where his lover should have had a scar from the explosion which destroyed the Hub yet only smooth skin met his own. He tilted his head, pressed his lips to Ianto’s for a moment, and teased at the seam of Ianto’s lips with his tongue. A sigh escaped the man in his arms and Jack took advantage of the moment to deepen the kiss. The kiss went on and on even as the heat on the platform increased until everything disappeared in a searing moment of incandescent pleasure.

***

Ianto settled Jack onto the bed before slipping off his jacket and shoes. He climbed onto the mattress and shifted Jack so his head rested in his lap. He stroked his fingers through the short soft strands of Jack’s hair while humming softly. Outside his home, he could hear the sounds of life. Birdsong shattered the silence while even more distant he could hear the sounds of children’s laughter and the excited chatter of adults. Though there were others, even old friends, who lived nearby, Ianto shunned them all and focused on his work.

A shiver along his senses brought Ianto’s gaze down to Jack. He could feel the other man making the final transition from life to eternity. Ianto tilted his head back, closed his eyes and murmured a soft prayer to his parents. They had known his dearest wish; however, they’d made him wait until Jack was ready as well. Love and duty had forbid him from merely taking his lover from life. A soft sigh slipped from Ianto’s lips even as he felt the comfort of the eternal powers which had birthed him. A harsh sucked in breath brought Ianto’s attention back down to the man in his lap.

“Ianto…?” Jack’s blue eyes stared up at him in disbelief. “How…. Where… Am I dead finally?”

“Yep,” Ianto said. He stroked Jack’s hair off his forehead and smiled down at the physically older man. “I couldn’t come for you until now. You needed to be truly ready before I could release you from what was done from you.”

“But how…?” Jack trailed off and pushed himself up to sit in front of his former lover. “How could you do what the Doctor said could never happen?”

“To steal the words of a very great man,” Ianto said softly. “There are more things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of by philosophy.” He leant back against the headboard of the bed to better watch Jack. He reached out and gently grasped Jack’s hand in his own. “Do you know who Auriel is?” A confused headshake answered him and he chuckled softly. “Promise not to reach for your gun if I show you my real self?”

It took all of Ianto’s considerable willpower not to laugh as Jack shifted a bit to sit on his hands before nodding at him. He could feel the smile settling on his lips as he slipped off the bed to stand beside it. He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and allowed his mortal guise to slip away in favor of his true self. He could feel his wings stretching and spreading behind him while his hair tumbled down to brush against the small of his back. As he watched, Jack’s eyes widened and his breathing sped up.

“Goddess, Ianto,” Jack murmured. “You’re beautiful.” One vaguely trembling hand stretched out toward him. “May I…?”

“Of course,” Ianto said. He knew he was blushing, but couldn’t help it beneath Jack’s frank stare. “Though I should warn you…” He broke off with a deep groan as Jack’s fingers brushed over the upper edge of his wing.

“Sensitive?” Jack’s flirtatious tone hummed between them. “I’ll have to remember that.”

Ianto arched his back and his wings beneath Jack’s almost idle caresses. “You shouldn’t do that,” he whispered. He took a step toward his lover to rest his hands on Jack’s chest. “I haven’t had sex since I left you all those millennia ago.”

“Hmm,” Jack purred. His hands ran along the upper edge of Ianto’s wings to where they joined his shoulders. From there, he drew them over and down Ianto’s chest while scratching lightly with his nails. He curled his fingers around Ianto’s waistband teasing the skin beneath before setting to work on freeing his belt buckle. “I should do something to take the edge off.”

“Don’t start something you don’t…” Ianto broke off with a hoarse cry. Jack’s nimble fingers slipped beneath his clothes to wrap around his cock. They squeezed and stroked while his other hand flipped open the button of his trousers and lowered his zipper. Ianto looked down to watch as Jack dropped to his knees and nuzzled his cock. “God, yes, suck me,” he ordered.

Jack chuckled softly. His hand stroked over Ianto’s cock again and again. He used long leisurely strokes with just a hint of twist in his wrist as he reached the head. He looked up at Ianto from beneath his lashes. Their eyes met, gazes held, as he ran the flat of his tongue over the head of Ianto’s cock. He teased, licking and tasting, before closing his mouth over that hard length.

“Oh, fuck, yes,” Ianto gasped. His fingers tangled in Jack’s hair. His thighs trembled as he struggled not to thrust into Jack’s warm wet mouth. He let the other man have control for several minutes, never taking his gaze from Jack’s, as he’d so missed the intensity of his lover’s focus when he sucked cock. Feeling his orgasm start to crest, he clenched his hands in Jack’s hair and pulled Jack off his cock while backing away from his lover. He pulled Jack to his feet and devoured him in a deep hungry kiss. Breaking the kiss, he growled. “Strip,” he ordered. “Because I don’t intend on coming until I’m buried deep inside you.”

Jack grabbed Ianto again. His hands cradling his lover’s face as he stared into his eyes. “Anything you want,” he said. He pressed another kiss to Ianto’s lips. “Just don’t… Stay like this… you are so…”

Ianto chuckled and nodded. He started stripping off his clothes while watching Jack all but tear off his own. Clothes were flung every which way around the room. Then Jack clambered up onto the bed and sprawled there. His legs spread wide and his hands held out to Ianto who laughed again before following him onto the bed. He crawled up the mattress, taking his time, and pausing to lick his way up Jack’s hard cock before momentarily taking the head in his mouth and sucking hard once. Pulling away, Ianto continued his leisurely crawl up and over Jack, deliberately dragging his chest over Jack’s cock to elicit a begging moan, until he could straddle Jack’s hips and stare down at the older man.

He bent down and kissed Jack. He drove his tongue deep into the other man’s mouth to seek out the taste of his lover. Ianto broke the kiss to trail his lips along Jack’s jaw. He nipped and sucked at Jack’s throat. He tasted his sweat while licking down to Jack’s nipples. Those he licked, sucked and nibbled until Jack’s hands tangled in his hair to pull him away and up for another kiss.

“Don’t tease,” Jack begged. “Fuck me.”

“Soon,” Ianto growled. He moaned when Jack threaded his fingers through the pin feathers and down feathers closest to his skin. They were so sensitive to touch. He usually hated when they were touched; however, with Jack’s brushing and stroking over them all he felt was a bone deep arousal. He shifted his weight to one hand in order to grope for the lube he’d secured before he’d gone to retrieve Jack from the death of the earth. “Stop, Jack,” he moaned.

“Why?” Jack asked. His fingers still stroked and teased at the downy feathers he found close to Ianto’s shoulders. “Don’t like it?”

“Like it too much,” Ianto replied. He set the lube down by Jack’s hip. He reached up to wrap his fingers around Jack’s wrists and tugged his hands away to pin them down by Jack’s shoulders. “Too damned much. It’s been too damned long.” Ianto shifted Jack’s hands up to the headboard. “So you hold on to that for a moment.”

Jack chuckled darkly, but obeyed the softly spoken order. He wrapped his fingers around the iron bars of Ianto’s headboard. He stared intently up at Ianto, just watching him, as Ianto moved back to rest on his heels between Jack’s legs. The concentration on Ianto’s face was just as arousing as his intense exploration of his body. Jack shivered with pleasure, swallowed, and then flung his head back with a thrilled cry as Ianto breeched him with two slick fingers. Jack writhed beneath Ianto. He thrust his hips in counter to Ianto’s inward thrusts of his fingers. He could do nothing but moan. His body begged for Ianto’s possession. “Please, Ianto,” he panted. “Fuck me.”

“With pleasure,” Ianto murmured using the remaining lube to slick his own cock. He moved over Jack and slowly pressed inside. He worked his way into Jack with small thrusts of his hips. He hissed in pleasure at the tight clasp of muscle around the hard length of his cock. “Very great pleasure.”

“Fuck, yes,” Jack groaned. He met every thrust of Ianto’s hips with one of his own. “Let me touch,” he begged. “Please, let me hold you.”

“Yes.” Ianto breathed. He drove harder into Jack. He wanted more. He wanted everything from his lover in ways he hadn’t since their first times so very long ago. He wrapped an arm around Jack’s back and, as Jack’s arms went around his shoulders, sat back on his heels and brought Jack up with him. “Ride me,” he ordered.

Hissing as the change in position drove Ianto deeper inside him; Jack braced himself and began to move. He rode Ianto’s cock in a hard, fast rhythm determined to find the ultimate pleasure for them both. Desperate for the taste of Ianto, he kissed him hungrily, tongues tangling as he sought out the unique flavor of his lover. He broke the kiss with a deep moan as he felt both Ianto’s arms and wings wrap around him. He rode Ianto harder and moaned with every deep drive of Ianto’s cock within him.

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of their combined reflection in the mirror hanging on the nearby wall. “Look, Ianto,” Jack whispered. He watched them. He shamelessly rode Ianto’s cock while wrapped in feathered wings so dark a black as to shimmer with a green light. “We’re stunning.”

“I know,” Ianto murmured. He slipped a hand between them to grasp Jack’s cock. He started stroking it in time to Jack’s thrusts down on him. He also began to thrust up into Jack, shifting the angle of penetration until every inward thrust on his part struck Jack’s prostate. “Come for me, Jack,” he demanded. “Let me see it.”

“You first,” Jack said. He clenched his muscles around Ianto’s cock. He wanted to feel Ianto spill within him, wanted to know that he’d made his lover come undone, and somehow found the strength to ride Ianto harder. “Please,” he begged. “I want to feel it.”

“Shit!” Ianto groaned. He tore his gaze from their image in the mirror. Combined with the clenching of Jack’s passage around him, the image of the two of them together was just too much. His orgasm crashed through his system. Thrusting up as hard as he could into Jack, he flung his head back with a scream of Jack’s name.

The sight and feel of Ianto’s orgasm broke the last thin threads of Jack’s control over himself. He barely had the breath to cry out as his whole body seized with pleasure. He cried Ianto’s name as he came all over both their chests and collapsed against Ianto. Jack pressed his face into Ianto’s neck, hiding his sudden tears, and breathed deep of their combined scents.

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” Jack breathed. “Just a bit overwhelmed.”

Ianto chuckled softly. He shifted them to lie on the bed on their sides. He stroked his hand up and down Jack’s side as he held him. “I have missed you so much, Jack,” Ianto murmured.

“Tell me this won’t end,” Jack begged. “Tell me I’m not dreaming. That I’m not imagining you as my own personal angel while my body recovers from the radiation burns from the sun’s death.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Ianto replied. “You’re really dead, Jack. You can rest now. No one will take you from me.” He cupped Jack’s cheek and stroked his thumb over Jack’s lips. “I promise.”

“But…” Jack protested for a moment. “How can you promise me that?”

A soft lazy chuckle slipped from Ianto. He smirked as he propped up on one elbow beside his exhausted lover. “Trust me, Jack,” he said. “I want you with me. Do you really think anyone, even Time itself, can stop the Angel of Death from keeping the one he loves now that he has him?”

Jack stared. His hand reached out to brush over black feathered wings before moving up to curl around Ianto’s neck and pull him into him for a kiss. “Thank you,” he breathed. “I’ve never forgotten you, Ianto, never stopped loving you.”

“I know,” Ianto replied. He smiled more and pressed another gentle kiss on his lover. “Rest now, Jack. I promise you’ll still be here when you wake up again.” He rested a finger on Jack’s lips. “Welcome to Paradise, Jack,” he murmured. Ianto hummed softly until Jack was asleep in his arms and then settled down beside him to watch Jack sleep. In those last quiet moments before he drifted off to sleep, Ianto whispered, “I love you, Jack.”