Birthday

[galadriel1010]

Author's note: 19th August, Ianto Jones' birthday. I meant to get this up yesterday as a present for Ianot, but then I got a phone call from a friend whom I haven't spoken to in nearly a year,s o I got a bit distracted. So it's a belated birthday gift, but still my second birthday fic in under a week. FLUFF!!

---

It was another normal day at Torchwood, by which he meant that he and Jack had got up at 3 in the morning to deal with rift activity and hadn’t yet stopped. At the moment he was driving down the motorway towards Pembroke in pursuit of a Spaceship sighting which would probably turn out to be something perfectly innocuous like a beach ball or a spaceship. He was startled from his reverie by a hand on his knee, his lover’s hand to be precise. “I’m sorry, Yan. This isn’t how I’d intended we spent your birthday.”

“Not your fault, Jack.” He’d forgotten it was his birthday to be honest, the last few months hadn’t been great, what with the Dalek invasion, the upcoming opening of Cern and its related weirdness and the loss only a few months ago of Tosh and Owen, a stab of pain went through him still when he thought about them, individual days had been hard to think about, “It’s Torchwood, isn’t it? Neither the rift nor our visitors know about Christmas, and if I can forget my birthday I’m sure they can.”

“You forgot?” Jack sounded surprised, shocked even

“Well not forgot exactly, I just lost track of the date. I still think we’re in July. The weather certainly doesn’t think it’s August.” He muttered as he steered around a particularly big puddle.

Jack laughed, “Well I promise that this evening will be better. I can’t promise anything about the weather, but everything else will be perfect.”

Ianto looked astonished, “You’ve got something planned for this evening?”

“Well yeah, it’s your birthday. It’s got to be a bit special.” Ianto took his hand and squeezed it, then let go to change gear as they pulled onto the roundabout in Pembroke.

That evening he leant on the railings, looking down on the Hub, and took a sip from his coffee. Mickey was busy tracking down all sorts of blog posts and photos of the spaceship and messing around with the links. They couldn’t just delete them these days, it was too suspicious, but they could break links here and there, push them either down or out of search results, put in extra irrelevant results to certain searches. All so that no member of the public would know what danger they were in every day. He sighed heavily and started when he felt a hand on the small of his back. Strong arms wrapped around his waist and he leant back into the hold of his lover, “Heya, Jack.” He murmured, before taking another sip of his coffee.

Jack chuckled behind him, sending vibrations running across his back and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck, “Heya yourself, you ready?”

“Ready.” He replied, although he didn’t know what for yet.

Jack didn’t seem about to explain as he called down to Mickey and Gwen, “Can you two hold the fort for us?”

“Course we can.” Gwen replied, pinning round on her chair to look up at them with a fond smile, “You too enjoy yourselves, happy birthday again Ianto.” Once things had quietened down a bit Gwen had given him a gift from her and Rhys, a set of crystal whiskey tumblers with a decanter and, and this was one of the best bits, a bottle of extremely good Scotch Whiskey. He and Jack would enjoy that one night. Even Mickey, the new boy, had got him a couple of DVDs, Ianto had been extremely touched, Mickey was trying hard with everyone but Jack to fit in.

Speaking of whom, his lover had unwrapped himself from around Ianto and was pulling on his arm, leading him to the invisible lift rather than the cog door. He sighed happily and leant into Jack, who wrapped his arms around him again as the lift rose and smiled down at their friends who watched them disappear up into the hole in the roof.

Standing in the Plass, wrapped in a tender embrace whilst the world went by around them, Ianto felt there was nowhere he’d rather be. He had everything he wanted from life, and he was proud to be able to give something back as well. The young man turned and kissed his lover passionately, knowing that no-one could see them but knowing also that he wouldn’t care if they could. What he and Jack shared was far more important than what people thought about it. Eventually he was forced to break away for air, and when he did Jack moved his hand from where it had come to rest on the back of his neck to stroke his cheek gently. There were tears in the older man’s eyes as they gazed at each other, drinking in the sight of the person they loved. His voice, when he found it, was barely a whisper, “I love you Ianto.”

Ianto’s heart skipped a beat, like it did every time Jack said those words, “I love you too.” He whispered in response, running his fingers through Jack’s hair and feeling their hearts beating against each other as they pressed close together on the block. Eventually Jack pulled away and he mourned the loss of the contact, but Jack took his hand and led him across the Plass and along the Bay to a restaurant overlooking the Bay. When they arrived they were led to a reserved table where a bottle of Champagne was waiting for them. Jack was the perfect gentleman throughout, the Jack that Ianto had come to know with surprise and fall in love with with ease. This Jack was one who only came out in public and probably dated from the early 20th century or even the 19th, when everything was much more formal. There were so many different sides to his Captain, and he loved every one of them.

Some time later, as they finished their main course and waited for dessert, Jack started to grow nervous and agitated. He hid it well, but Ianto knew the signs and it made him nervous too. He worried that Jack was going to break off their relationship, they’d both been under a lot of pressure lately and he knew that Jack had taken the loss of Tosh and Owen harder than the rest of them had, maybe it had just got too much. Catching Jack’s eye and seeing the myriad emotions blazing there he reassured himself that that was not the case, they were as secure in their relationship as they had ever been, so what was Jack nervous about.

All became clear when the plates had been cleared away and Jack pulled a small box out of his pocket. Ianto stared at in it shock and Jack smiled slightly, before clearing his throat, “Ianto, I know you don’t like to make a scene, so I won’t, although what I really want to do is shout it from the rooftops. But I want you to know how much you mean to me and how much we mean to me. I want to be able to tell the world that there is a ‘we’, and that there is no one in this world more important to me than you. I want us to have all the rights that the British Government gives people who love each other, I don’t want to have to flash my Torchwood ID to get in to see you if you’re injured in hospital again, although I’d rather you didn’t get injured at all. I want to be with you to the end of time, but that’s not possible, so I want to make the time we have together as special as possible. Ianto Jones…” he paused and cleared his throat again, tears were swimming in his eyes and blurring his vision. If he’d been able to see clearly he would have seen Ianto’s answer already written on his face, “Ianto, will you marry me?” He opened the box to reveal a simple, traditional diamond ring.

Ianto was stunned, “Oh Jack, there’s nothing I want more.” He silenced Jack’s overjoyed reply by leaning across the table and felt Jack meet him halfway. They didn’t care who saw them now, they were nearly official. As they kissed, Jack took the ring from the box and broke apart from his fiancé for a moment to slip it on his finger. Ianto stared at it, then took Jack’s hand and squeezed his fingers, kissing him again lightly and tenderly. They stared at each other again, lost in the moment until the desserts arrived, breaking the atmosphere slightly and creating one perfect, immortal moment which they both knew they would remember for the rest of their lives, no matter how long that might be.