Hey! So I'm sorry that this took a couple weeks but I was busy with school and physical therapy. But here's the last chapter!

I tried to answer everyone's questions that they left in the reviews by writing it into the chapter. However, if there's still anything unanswered please feel free to leave your thoughts in the reviews or PM me and I'll try my best to answer them!

~Enjoy~

"To be honest, I really don't know where to start."

"Well think quick because my patience is wearing." Jack said, his eyes flicking towards the ceiling. He wouldn't admit it but it was incredibly hard to look Ianto in the eyes yet he wanted to so badly. His brain and heart were battling each other for which was right. But Jack heard Ianto chuckle so his eyes glanced back towards him.

"Remember what Rose told you." Ianto said with a tired smirk. "You shouldn't be so quick to reject anything." Jack's eyes widened.

"How do you-"

"I was there," Ianto clarified. "In the TARDIS with them. I just didn't show my face to the camera." Ianto smiled for a moment but it soon fell. He had gotten that far away look in his eyes as if he were recalling a memory or just thinking distant thoughts. Jack let out a sigh and rubbed a hand over his face wearily.

"How did you even know that the version of you in this universe was dead?" Jack asked as a way to get him to start talking. He was surprised his voice stayed steady. He usually couldn't stay calm whenever he mentioned Ianto's death.

"The Doctor told you that Torchwood had been monitoring the rift right?" Jack nodded. "Well, when it was still pretty small, all that could get through was the occasional broadcast or radio frequency." Ianto stood up from the couch and began walking around the flat. Jack stayed on the couch, following him with his eyes.

"Near the time when the rift finally grew big enough for human transportation, we received part of a news broadcast." He said. Ianto paused and hesitated.

"What was it?" Jack prompted. Ianto stopped by a table on one side of the room where Jack had put pictures of loved ones. He picked up a picture of a smiling Alice and spoke without looking up from the photo.

"It was the list of the dead from the 456 incident." Ianto placed the photo back down on the table and turned to look at Jack. Jack, whose jaw was clenched, was staring down at his hands. Ianto leaned against the table and crossed his arms over his chest.

"The Doctor and Rose were the ones to receive it first." Ianto continued when Jack made no signs of looking back up from his hands. "When they saw my name on it, they contacted me and I went straight over. They knew about my relationship with Jack in that universe and they thought there was a possibility the relationship was the same in this universe. And even if it wasn't, you'd still gain a colleague back and I'd get to be with you again. So from that point on I was monitoring the open rift activity with them."

Ianto glanced back as he said this and saw a framed picture of the Captain and Rose. From the background he could tell they were in the TARDIS and by Jack's hair style, he could tell it was long ago, when he was younger.

"I got along great with the Doctor and Rose. They told me stories of different planets and battles. They talked about you too, asked me to say hello for them once I found you, say that they're doing well." At that Jack looked up with a small smile. He hadn't seen either of the Doctor's for the longest time.

"So anyway, once the opening was big enough, they sent me through."

"But I still don't understand. Why would they send you over here?" Jack asked. "Don't you have your own life in the parallel world?"

"They sent me over here to be with you, Jack." Ianto said with a hopeful smile. And even though seeing that smile made Jack heart skip a beat, he also had to keep his temper from flaring again. How could the Doctor think that he could just send him a different Ianto after the one he had known and loved was lost?

"You're not my Ianto." He said, his voice tight.

"And you're not my Jack." Ianto replied without skipping a beat.

Jack blinked. "What?"

"You heard me." Ianto said, the sadness returning to his eyes. "You're not the only one who's experienced loss here." The room filled with silence. Jack stared at Ianto, and Ianto stared back.

A moment passed.

"The parallel version of me is dead." It wasn't really a question, but Ianto nodded anyway. And then, to Ianto's surprise, Jack chuckled.

"I'm sorry but that's not possible." He said, his laugh dry and skeptical. Ianto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You think you're immortal in all worlds, don't you?" He asked, exasperated. Jack's stopped laughing and paused, considering.

"Shit."

This time Ianto laughed, and by god, Jack would be a liar if he said it didn't sound amazing. He thought he'd never hear that noise again.

"Why would you think you'd be immortal? Rose told me that the only reason you're like this is because of her. There was no parallel Rose there to do this to you. You were just a normal ex-time agent who decided to lead Torchwood 3 in 21st-century Cardiff." Ianto said, walking back over to the couch where Jack was still seated.

Jack shook his head in shock. Even though he sometimes wished he was normal again, it was hard to imagine dying for good. He had seen the darkness and come back from it so many times that it was hard to expect anything else.

"So…how did I die?" He asked finally. Ianto face fell again and Jack wished he hadn't asked. He had finally gotten to see him smile again but then he made it disappear. Nevertheless, Ianto took a deep breath and sat back down on the couch with Jack. He sat closer than he had been before but Jack didn't move away.

"We had the same incident on our universe. The 456 made contact and demanded we hand over the children of earth. When we didn't concede, it raised hell and then we defeated it." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. He was staring at his hands which were tightly clasped in his lap. "But at one point during the confrontation, when you and I were interrogating it, the 456 released a poisonous gas into the air...and it killed everyone in the building."

"Well obviously not seeing as how you're-" Jack trailed off and stared with wide eyes at Ianto who was patiently staring back.

"Ianto," Jack drew the word out slowly and carefully. "If everyone was killed, then how are you here?"

"I'm gonna let you take a guess at that one."

"Ianto, I'm serious!" Jack shouted, his frustration rising. "What does this mean?"

Ianto looked at him, his blue eyes scanning the Captain's face. "Jack, before when you were yelling at me you said that I died in your arms. Well in my universe, you died in mine." He leaned forward slightly, towards Jack. "I'm immortal Jack."

"Bullshit!" Jack yelled causing Ianto, who now had a teasing smile on his face to jerk back in surprise.

"I knew you'd react that way." He murmured under his breath with a small chuckle. When Jack saw Ianto's amused expression, he checked himself and leaned back, taking a deep breath.

"How the hell did that happen?" He asked, calmer now. "Rose was never in your universe." Ianto nodded, still smiling from Jack's outburst.

"Right." He agreed. "But that's not exactly the only way to become immortal."

"So how'd you do it?"

Ianto leaned his head back against the couch and stared at the wall across from them where a television would normally be placed, but in this case it was only blank. It made sense. Why would Jack buy a television for a flat he never used?

"On one of our missions we came across a piece of alien tech at a crash site. The species that made it used it to force its prisoners to live longer. It would bring torture victims back to life so that they could live out their full sentence. When I was taking the equipment down into the archives, it somehow got activated and since it was damaged from the crash, the effects were amplified. We didn't realize what had happened to me until later when we were back at the crash site. The species had returned for its equipment and when we didn't hand it over immediately, they shot person closest to them…which was me." Ianto closed his eyes, his mind going back to that moment. "All I saw was darkness for a while until suddenly I woke up to you sobbing over my body. You nearly had a heart attack when I reached out a grabbed your hand." He said with a small chuckle. He stopped laughing though when he glanced over and saw Jack with a serious expression on his face.

"What's going on in that head of yours Jack?" Jack let out a breath and turned on the couch so he was facing Ianto, sitting cross legged. Ianto copied his movements so they were mirrored.

"Why did you come here?" he asked. Ianto snorted.

"I told you. I came here for you Jack." Jack shook his head.

"Yeah, I know that. But you shouldn't have." Ianto cocked his head to the side in confusion. Jack sighed. "Ianto, I shouldn't have been such a big part of your life. Just because I'm not in your universe doesn't mean that you're not leaving anything behind. What about your sister? You have your sister right?" Ianto nodded but then stopped and glanced down, his hands clenching and unclenching in his lap.

"She thinks I'm a monster, Jack."

Jack blinked. "What?"

"As soon as she found out what I'd become, she was disgusted. I don't know why, she just thought it was unnatural…so she told me that she wanted me to stay away from her and her family." Silence fell. Jack wasn't just hit by the fact that Ianto's sister turned her back on him, but also by what he had said. He had used the same words he'd said to Jack when he had given him orders to execute Lisa. To use those words to describe himself made Jack's heart tighten.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. Ianto shook his head as if to tell him not to express any regret. Jack thought for a moment.

"What about colleagues? Did you work with people named Toshiko Sato or Owen Harper?" He asked.

"We had the same team in the parallel world, if that's what you're wondering. Another one of the broadcasts we received described your team here." He looked up and locked eyes with Jack. "But I'm sorry Jack. They're both dead. The only ones left were me, you, and Gwen. And then the 456 incident happened and…well, you know the rest."

"Our worlds really are parallel." Jack murmured, never breaking the intense staring contest he was having with Ianto. He almost said "I win" when Ianto blinked and cracked a small smile.

"So you see Jack, I'm leaving nothing behind. My boyfriend and my coworkers are dead, Gwen has her own life with Rhys, and my own sister thinks I'm a monster. When the Doctor told me that I could have a chance to be with you again, of course I agreed." He moved closer to Jack, closing the gap between them. Jack enjoyed the sudden nearness. "You're the only steady aspect of my life anymore." Jack swallowed back the lump in his throat.

He was suddenly aware of the fact that they had both subconsciously moved closer to each other and now their faces were mere inches away. Ianto seemed to notice it too because the Welshman blushed and prepared to lean back, thinking he was invading Jack's personal space too soon. But Jack grabbed his face, stopping him, and brought him even closer. The last thing Jack saw was Ianto's eyes widen before he leaned the rest of the way in and pressed their lips together.

It was the same. It was absolutely the same, which was fantastic. There was still that same spark that had always been there. Jack got that same overwhelming rush of emotion that had scared him but delighted him at the same time. It was absolutely amazing to finally be once again kissing the man he thought he had lost forever. When he pulled away, his hands moving down and cupping Ianto's neck, he saw the smile on Ianto's face and realized he was wearing an equally thrilled expression on his.

"I love you Ianto Jones. I never actually said it to you before you died and I have regretted it every day since then. I love you, and I will always love you." Ianto's eyes began to water at the edges. He was beginning to cry but he held it back, as did Jack, whose emotions were beginning to get the best of him.

"I love you too, Jack." Ianto said, his voice cracking slightly. They each gave a shaky laugh and just stayed that way, enjoying being near each other once again. After a few moments Ianto cleared his throat and glanced down, his smile never leaving his face, seemingly fixed.

"So, what now?" He asked. Ianto sounded happy but confused, as if he weren't sure what was going to happen next for the two of them. It was the same uncertainty that the man had had when he and Jack were together, yet not actually labeling their relationship. But really, the only reason Jack never wanted to make anything permanent, to make it verbal and physical, was because no one lived forever. Only he did.

But now it was a whole different story.

"Well," Jack said with a smile as he reached down and took Ianto's hands in his. Ianto looked up and their eyes met; blue against blue. "I suppose we have as much time as we want to figure that out, don't we." Ianto smiled and squeezed Jack's hands.

"I suppose we do."

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