Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue bring Ianto back to Jack first. Titles for the fiction and for its chapters are copyright by Abba, namely from the song "My love, my life".

Warnings: Small references to the series. Not beta-read and English's not my native language. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Still my one and only

The planning in itself didn't take much. Martha, once she had been reassured that they were both fine with the ultimate decision, accepted the help gladly, so all the three of them, along with Mickey, tried to sort out the entangled state of affairs.

Thanks to the hi-tech computers and Jack's knowledge, they discovered that the situation in itself wasn't a mess as big as they had initially feared, it was simply out of UNIT reach: Jack and Ianto, thanks to their experience, could easily make quick work of the small nuisances with just a hint of hassle.

The only problems left for them were:

One- How to get inside the palace when the time was right

Two- How to put inside the breach the explosive without the rift activating itself or the bomb exploding too soon

Three- What to do while waiting for the next time-quake.

After a couple of days, the four friends decided that point three wasn't a problem anymore, since Martha and Mickey had gotten used to Jack and Ianto presence in their house and they all had found many activities to kill the time together.

Ianto's favourite hobby easily became staring at Mickey's faces when Jack decided to share with them one of his infamous tales.

The other two points, on the other hand, proved to be a bit more complicated to solve, so they only had to hope that they could find at least a way out for the second before the time-quake occurred. Despite Jack's fears, the work on the bomb proceed easier than what he thought possible, but Mickey's time-quakes prediction program wasn't much safer than Toshiko's rift activity one, especially considering that he had based his codes on hers.

Unfortunately, after only some weeks of frenzied work and shenanigans, every program Mickey had put together seemed to certainly predict another quake for the following day, so they had to quicken their work on point two and hope that everything went fine with point one.

On that side of things, Martha had managed to inform the Queen about what they were planning to do without alarming UNIT, and was reassured by the old ruler that Her blessing, along with the password included in the mail containing Her answer, would help them through every door inside the Royal Residence.

Thanks to that and Mickey's maps, Jack and Ianto managed to sneak into Buckingham Palace without problems, and soon they got inside the small service room in which the young breach was barely showing itself.

It was nothing like what they had experienced with the rift: it was only an extremely tiny crack on the floor, almost completely hidden by a nearby table shadow. If they didn't know what it was, they would have thought it was just a golden thread forgotten by some maid.

There was no way for them to push anything down there, so if the time-quake didn't actually happen, things were really going to become difficult for them: hoping to get there again without alarming a single guard on their way seemed absolutely out of question.

"Jack? Are you all right?" Ianto asked, noticing his lover leaning tiredly onthe wall.

"I'm fine, Ian. I'm just not sure about us doing this."

"Why?"

Ianto leaned next to him, scanning attentively his features to try understanding what could be wrong with Jack, but his lover really seemed only slightly tired. Or annoyed.

"What if the quake hits harder than what we predicted and we get swallowed by the rift before we can escape?"

"Then we'll die together, saving the Earth." Ianto answered automatically, actually describing the real facts that were about to happen more than thinking about the implications of them.

"Dying has a nice sound" Jack considered tiredly, resting his head on Ianto's. "But not yours"

"No, Jack, not yours. Not forever at least. You're meant to live, live for thousands years. I won't let you die here, no matter what it will cost me."

"What if this ends up differently than last time? What if I'm the one dying and you survive?"

"I wouldn't want this life without you." Ianto confessed, holding Jack tightly to himself. "I already went through all that with Lisa, losing you is just not an option, especially since we are playing with time and this could really be your final."

Jack took Ianto's hand in his and squeezed it tightly, worried and happy about his lover's confession at the same time. What took them out of their reverie was a loud noise coming from the door that was being forced open.

Both of them took out their guns quickly and pointed them at the newcomers, but they soon realised that they had no real chance to get the upper hand in case they were attacked: not only they could count 10 people in front of them, but the room had no real exit other than the main door currently obstructed. The soldiers blocking their only way to the freedom were all dressed in black and back masks also covered their faces, moreover, by the noise they could heard, outside the room there were many more of them ready to get their friends back if something were to happen.

They had simply fallen into a trap.

"Don't you think that attacking Buckingham Palace is a bit too much considering the security?" Jack stated coolly.

"We're authorized." The one that appeared to be the leader snapped, snorting in Jack's direction.

"We're too, so go away or this could become dangerous."

"You're authorised by the Queen, but we're authorized from the Government, or better, the ones that were in the Government when you messed up Thames House. Remember, politicians get degraded, but they never disappear."

"The Government called it upon itself! And besides that, you tried to kill all of us!"

"And we succeeded in none I see" The soldier's glare now moved to Ianto, who had been following the discussion without understanding much of it.

"Oh, no. You bloody well succeeded!" Jack argued heatedly, closing the space between himself and Ianto for good measure. "You destroyed my life once, but you won't do the same, not again! Over my forever dead body-"

"That was exactly the plan, these quakes have to stop after all." The presumed leader interrupted him, reclining slightly his head to the side. "You should have known better than use our planet for your little experiments only to get one single person back, Harkness. The world is in danger once again because of your little games!"

"My coming back was an accident happened just a few weeks ago!" Ianto butted in. "Martha said the quakes began years before… Isn't this the truth, Jack?"

Jack tried his best to not feel hurt by the hint of doubt in Ianto's voice, but he had to admit that he had barely told the Welshman the details of the mess happened six years before or of what he had done in the meanwhile.

"Of course it was an accident! Believe me…"

Ianto nodded at him and sighed in relief, but the soldier in front of them simply laughed bitterly at the display.

"Do you really believe him? Believe the one who collaborated with the aliens that eventually killed you, giving them 10 children to exploit, and then murdered his own grandson in cold blood?"

Even though part of the facts mentioned were news to him, Ianto wasn't a lovesick puppy that couldn't understand who was the person he was with. He knew what Jack could do, especially when left alone with his decisions. He had seen that with Jasmine and Lisa, and in many other situation, and he had even decrypted the subtle confessions hidden in the few reminiscences of Jack's past he had been allowed to know. That was why Ianto simply straightened his arm, pointing his gun directly at the soldier and glaring at him with extremely cold eyes.

"Yes. I'll believe him, no matter what."

"You're a fool" The soldier said, wincing visibly.

"Why don't you call Brigadied Steward from UNIT?" Jack offered, now slightly more worried about Ianto's wellbeing. "I'm sure he can vouch for us. UNIT has been working on this, they can explain to you that we're only here to help."

"No one wants your help, not anymore. However that bomb should be working properly, so we'll gladly make sure that you are going to use it. You're the lowest taking advantage of a pregnant woman."

"We never took advantage of Martha! And I told you, just ask Brig-"

"Brigadier Steward is dead. And his granddaughter has been momentarily hindered."

"What?" Jack yelled, shocked by the news and a little sadder hearing about his friend's death. "What have you done to Kate!?"

"Nothing. She simply failed to find the Doctor, so she's been given another case. We took over."

"Since when low level members of the Government have decisional power over UNIT?"

"Why do you think UNIT didn't move a finger for Thames House? When they are given orders, they tend to respect them, not like your Torchwood. Oh, and don't think you will get help from any of your friends working at UNIT: they have all been confined for safety measure."

Ianto managed to stop Jack just in time, immobilizing him where he was supposed to be before the soldiers could actually fire at them.

"What have you done to them!?" Jack barked angrily.

"They are safe. You should worry more about yourself."

"We only wanted to stop the breach before a new rift appeared" Ianto explained weakly. "We aren't even planning to create a new Torchwood!"

"Good to know since the Queen would have most likely accepted your offer to reconstruct Her little organization, but we would like to make sure you won't interfere anymore and that you'll be punished for your offences against the Government. Now, on the breach."

Jack and Ianto paled a bit but not seeing any other choice simply followed the orders and stepped backwards to the young rift. They could only hope that the crack didn't open up too soon, or considering Martha's data they would fall into it in a matter of seconds.

"Now what? Do you want to join us and play cards happily together?"

"Shut it, Harkness, now we'll wait for the quake." The soldier checked his watch and seemed to smirk at them. "Don't worry, you will die soon and together. It would be a proper and definitive Romeo and Juliet drama, not like that stupid excuse of it that was Thames House."

"To Hell with those bloody tragedies, I'm sick of them! Why can't you let me have a momentarily happily ever after? I'm not asking for much."

"High words for a killer of many."

Jack literally growled at the soldier and was about yelling again at him when the time-quake began, shaking everything around them and making the light crack beneath their feet shine and diffuse around them an ethereal kind of golden light.

With a last "See you in Hell, Harkness" the soldiers cleared the room and Jack and Ianto rushed away from the crack, hoping to be quicker than the breach, but unfortunately the light had already spread enough to cover half the room floor and their next step fell into nothing, as both of them tumbled down the golden dust of the opened rift.

Ianto had actually thought that his falling would be longer, but in truth it was surprisingly short. As he opened his eyes and looked around himself, he saw the golden light turning darker but strangely more shining below his feet and for a moment he wondered what the heck had happened.

"Ian, please, tell me you didn't faint on me" Jack's voice came to him as strained and pained, and looking above himself, he could easily understand why.

Luck had always been Jack's best friend, and once again it hadn't left him completely alone, allowing him to grasp the border of the breach with his hand at the last moment.

"Jack, it's a breach in time, the border can't resist much longer! Let me go!"

Jack huffed at him in irritation. "I guess I would have liked you better fainted then. Hear me out: try to climb up a bit, the wall in front of us seems solid."

"It's fading invisible!" Ianto protested, staring perplexed at the semi-transparent side.

"Try it for me?"

Ianto grunted at his lover's obstinacy and tried to check the consistency of the wall in front of him with the tip of his toe, surprisingly finding it more solid than what he had initially guessed. He didn't let go of Jack's hand until he was certain that there were actually enough holds to climb and then proceeded to hike the fading surface.

It didn't take it too much for Ianto to reach the floor and, as soon as his lover was safe, Jack decided it was time for him to get out of there as well.

"Are you all right?" He asked Ianto as he literally fell into his arms.

"Yeah" Ianto whispered, holding Jack tenderly. "Thanks for saving me… Still, you might only have bought me a little more time…"

His sad eyes turned to the door. "Do you think we can force it open?"

Jack got on his feet and tapped some buttons on his Vortex Manipulator, but the confused expression he was sporting didn't make Ianto any happier.

"They must have a foreign controller for it. Every time I'm about to unlock it, they reset everything." Jack's and Ianto's eyes met, both fearing the same thing. "What about the bomb?"

Ianto reached for the small package inside his jacket and stared at it with a blank expression on his face.

"They activated it... It's ticking. We've five minutes left."

"We need to stop the timer"

"No. We don't." Ianto told him seriously. "If the breach doesn't blow up now, there will be a permanent rift inside the Royal Palace. It's a place too obvious to control in order to hide what's happening… I'm sorry, everything is my fault…"

Jack held Ianto tight and kissed the top of his head as the Welshman tried his best to keep the frenzied beating of his heart in check. "It's not your fault Ian, it's the Government… It was its fault even the first time you died, that's why I didn't want to tell you the details of your deaths. There's always something above us even when we're supposed to be outside the Government and beyond the Police."

"Jack, what about your VM? Did you have it fixed?"

The hold around Ianto tightened even more. "I fixed it, but I can't use it with you."

Ianto changed their position a bit to stare up at his lover confused. "Why?"

Jack took a deep breath. "I'm not leaving you here alone to explode with the rift again, and I don't think you would want to use it if you knew the consequences."

Ianto crooked an eyebrow inquisitively. "What consequences?"

"Martha said that you've got some residue time vortex around yourself and using my VM would fix it inside you. She didn't explain how, but she was pretty sure of it… it had something to do with de-atomization and recomposing of the body after transportation probably."

"Fix the vortex inside me… You mean I will become immortal like you." Jack nodded and Ianto paled. "And I have five- no four minutes and thirty seconds to decide."

Jack took Ianto's hands in his and caressed them lightly. "I would like to ask you… What would help you deciding for immortality?"

"You don't need to say anything Jack." Ianto told him, bringing their joined hands closer to his heart. "Just the thought of leaving you alone again is enough... But I'm still dubious…"

"Why?"

"What if things don't work out well for us? What if this isn't meant to be and we crush timelines once again?"

"Are these really the only things that bother you?" Jack asked astounded. "You will see everyone's death, someone may even want to experiment on you… Eventually everything will be so much to bear and you will hate me…"

"Something like that will never happen." Ianto reassured him, offering his lover a small smile. "I'll always have you by my side, I'll always have a shoulder to cry on. I doubt my love for you will ever fade or that I'll ever regret it."

"It's the same for me, Ianto... All this time without you taught me that much."

"So" Ianto said, trembling slightly. "Can you take me away now?"

"There's nothing I wish more than this, but… Are you really sure?"

Ianto swallowed and then nodded, still looking all but sure. "I-I really can't think about doing the wrong choice again. I want to spare you being left alone forever… If you will have me?"

Jack tightened his hug around Ianto and kissed him chastely on his lips. "Of course I will"

"Won't I bother you?"

"Well, up until now you've just helped me actually…"

"What if I'm just scared to die?" Ianto asked out of the blue, making Jack chuckle.

"Well, then you could teach me" He felt his lover finally less tense in his arms, so he took a big breath and prepared for his own little confession. "Will… will make you feel less nervous about becoming immortal knowing that I might be pregnant?"

Ianto felt a smirk tugging at his lips, but he couldn't do much to stop himself from laughing openly at his lover, who looked at him not exactly knowing what to think about Ianto's reaction.

"Jack, you know, you don't need to make up excuses to make me wish to live on with you, I already said yes. Thanks for joke though, it made the last bit of tension go away."

"I'm glad it did, but I wasn't joking."

Ianto froze in Jack's arms and fixed his eyes wide on him. "Are you sure?"

"Of course not." He argued. "That's the general meaning of might."

"Oh, my God." Ianto leaned in Jacks embrace and rested tiredly his forehead on his lover's shoulder.

They stood like that for some time, while the ticking of the timer kept going on and on, making Jack both restless and resigned. He caressed lightly Ianto's shoulder and prepared himself to follow his lover inside the darkness of the death in case he had changed his mind after his admission.

All of sudden he heard a loud tonf and he realised soon that it was the bomb. Ianto purposefully kicked it inside the breach, letting Jack see how they had just a bunch of seconds before everything blew up. Ianto tightened his hold around his lover's waist and with a bit of voice told him "Bring me home"

"Even though I'm pregnant?"

Ianto looked up at Jack, exasperation n clear in his eyes.

"Are you nuts?! That could only make me to wish for immortality even more!" He took Jack's face between his hands and stared closely in Jack's eyes. "And if you're not pregnant already, we'll make a baby on purpose one day. I love you, Jack: immortal or not, 21st century or 51st century, pregnant or not, Torchwood or not… My love for you will always be core of my life."

Ianto kissed Jack, and the captain didn't even need to look at his VM before finally pressing the button that would bring them to safety as the timer blipping faded along with the outlines of bomb and the breach exploded along with the whole room that contained it.

As the service room was being destroyed, Jack and Ianto reappeared in a dark room, not quite where Jack had meant to go. They were still holding tightly on one another while they checked themselves for injuries, when a diplomatic cough lead their attention to an old woman watching them.

"Ha….uhmm… Well…"

"Mister Harkness, it's a pleasure meeting you again. However, I will make clear that the current circumstances quite surprise me."

"Well, we just… We had a little incident with the Government, Milady."

"You keep having many of them, I noticed."

"It's not really our choice"

"May I have the pleasure of meeting you shocked colleague?"

As Jack turned to his lover, he saw how the young Welshman actually was the clear picture of disbelief: wide eyes, opened mouth and everything else that went with those.

"She's… She's…" Ianto muttered eventually. "The Queen?"

"Well, yes." Jack said plainly, amused by Ianto's reaction. "Queen Elisabeth, he's my boyfriend, Ianto Jones. Ian? Meet your Queen."

Those words made Ianto snort at his lover, whilst the Queen simply smiled indulgently at them. "Pleased to meet you Ianto Jones, and thanks for your constant help. May I do something for you?"

"What about the independency of Wales?"

The Queen's smile didn't falter as she stated a clear "Denied", making Ianto shrug resignedly.

Jack stared disapprovingly at him, but the Welshman didn't pay him much attention.

"I had to try."

"Well, I would actually like a payment if that's possible, a more manageable one."

The Queen stared surprised at Jack. "Unusual. What would it be?"

"We would simply like to be allowed living our lives as civilians without any official bother."

"I'd be pleased to grant you what you are asking for, but I won't deny that it will be a pity losing your help now that you're finally back on Earth."

"You won't lose it. If you need help Martha will know where we are and we'll help gladly though her. Ianto might even want to be in constant contact with UNIT offering them consultancies."

Both the Queen and Ianto stared surprised at Jack.

"I fear I'm not understanding, Mister Harkness."

"I'm asking to not make saving the world our job. I don't want orders or rules, organizations or encrypted information. We'll be here when you need us, but just that. We'll physically be involved only when there will be extreme emergencies. I want a clear record, everything related to us at any level has to disappear."

"Part-time consultants for who knows where to search for then."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Fine. Conceded."

"Thanks, Jack" Ianto told him, having no qualms kissing him right on the lips in front of the Queen herself.

They took some time to explain the Queen how it had been possible for Ianto to be there and who had tried to interfere with their plan, but after that Jack redirected his VM coordinates to Martha's house and simply they said they goodbyes to the old sovereign.

"What will you do as a job if not Torchwood then?" She asked, feeling slightly sad seeing Her most trusted man go away, bringing with himself her hope of rebuilding Torchwood Three.

Jack smirked at Her and got ready to punch the button to activate the transportation.

"We'll work to help bringing this century to the future like we've always done"

That said he activated his VM and they disappeared together into thin air.

*One year after*

Rhiannon was staring delighted at her little brother, who was feeding his son not far from the bench she was sitting on. The day was bright and warm: the perfect weather for a family trip to the park. Pity was that her son and daughter now felt too old for this kind of things and that her husband had preferred watching his favourite team on TV.

Still she had come gladly and was enjoying every second of the family afternoon.

When one year before she had seen her supposedly dead brother at her threshold, she had needed lots of smelly salts and cold water before getting back to her senses, but now she had gotten used once again at the idea of her beloved Ianto being back to the livings for possibly forever, as well as having a brother-in-law that could conceive and give birth to children.

She had been angry with both of them at the beginning for throwing everything at her all at the same time, and even more when they had honestly told her that before meeting her, they had gone saving the world once again.

However, after she'd had enough time to calm down and elaborate everything, she had been delighted to welcome back her brother, meet his boyfriend and, more than anything, raid every shop for kids in the neighbourhood, in order to do her duty as an aunt properly.

"Thanks for giving him back to me, Jack. When my friend told me she'd seen him with you, I'd lost any hope to see him with a family, and then, after London, I'd lost any hope to see him again at all."

"Everything happened by chance, Rhiannon. Really, you shouldn't thank me."

"I'm not thanking you for bringing him back to life, but for bringing him back to his family. I know my brother too well to understand that he thinks that we would all be better off without him." She turned to stare at Jack, sitting next to her. "Thanks."

Jack smiled at her and then moved his gaze again to his lover and his son. His family.

"I can't deny that it will hurt him when he'll outlive everyone he knows, but running away would not be the best solution."

"You're wise" She teased, and Jack laughed at her words.

"No, just plenty of experience."

Ianto in the meanwhile had finished his feeding duty and, having successfully managed to get the child asleep, joined his sister and husband.

"Mission accomplished." He proclaimed, sitting next to Jack and kissing him on the cheek. "Unfortunately we'll have to get back soon, Martha is sending me some samples from London to analyze."

"You know, you can be a nerd sometimes." Jack complained. "You seem almost happy about it."

"Research was my job at One, and I never really stopped doing that, not even at Three. Of course I like it."

"Why don't you go to London? Wouldn't it be more practical if the UNIT base is there?" Rhiannon wondered.

"No way!" Jack argued. "London is bad news, we'll risk having the Police highlights on us. We can't let the Government and UNIT get us, especially not now with a baby."

Jack's mobile chose that moment to blip and, as he checked his messages, his grin got wider by the second. "My new ship has finally come! They parked it behind the moon, I need to get the equipment from home and then go check my new little jewel."

"Another one?" Ianto asked annoyed. "You have already two spaceships."

"Yep, but this one is even better. I can finally start the tours to the Medusa Cascade!"

"You should call Gwen then, she wanted to see it."

"I already did it! She will be the first one to enjoy the Face of Boe's Medusa Space Tour!"

"Oh my Gosh, poor darling" Rhiannon sighed, caressing the spare bits of hair over her nephew head. "Your mam is a real businessman."

"And you're saying this before you heard him blabbering about acquiring some special shield to organize tours to see the explosions of dying stars and planets." Ianto drawled.

"Hey the idea is fabulous. It could bring us lots of money, especially from scientists, curious people and rich aliens."

"Oh, yeah, and what about alien threats? What if you put two different alien races that you forgot are enemies? Your memory isn't something I'd like to test on this."

"I'll… invent something to make everyone feel at ease" Jack said, visibly not finding any idea on the matter.

"Everyone at ease?" Rhiannon asked. "Our mam used to say that some people would be at ease only if there was an eternal Christmas."

"Christmas? Of course!" Jack beamed. "Rhiannon, you're a genius!"

Both siblings stared shocked at each other and then at Jack, who stood up and got ready to explain his triumphal plan.

"I'll make everyone exchange gifts as soon as they come aboard and meet the others! I'll make some big presentation ceremony too! Who doesn't like pompous ceremonies?!"

"That will save your ship from combustion." Ianto deadpanned with more than a hint of mistrust.

"Why? That's a great idea!"

"Of course, my love." He teased, standing up slowly to not wake up the sleeping child in his arms. "Rhiannon, I'll ring you soon, we've better go."

"I won't be waitin', then. Just try to let me know if you're still around before the kid turns eighteen."

Both Jack and Ianto laughed at the joke, and then they bid her goodbye as they tried to set their son in his stroller without waking him up.

When they had defeated the infernal instrument, they were finally ready to go. They walked in silence to their car until Jack decided that he had enough of 'being proper' and took a firm hold of Ianto's waist, making him swing a bit.

"Oi, what's this all of sudden?"

"Nothing, I'm just showing you how glad I am that you decided to give us a chance. I wouldn't know what to do alone with a small child looking just like you like this one."

Ianto relaxed in Jack's embrace and encircled his lover's waist with his arm too. "I'm glad too. You know, I do realize what meant for you immortality, but no matter what, I wouldn't exchange what we have now for anything else."

"Well, remember that I still own you a honeymoon. With everything that came with the kid and then the business barely starting, we never really managed to have one."

"Oh, and where were you planning to go?" Ianto asked curiously, bringing their lips only few inches together.

"You will see it when the time is right, my love. We have forever to get there. Forever and happily ever after."

Jack closed the few inches left between their lips and kissed Ianto, glad that he could savour him again after all those years alone that still bugged his dreams.

A fable-like ending might even be cheesy and cliché, but Jack had always considered himself a big kid, so he really couldn't wish for anything better.

*My love My life - The End*