The human heart is incredible.

It's strong, complex, beautiful, and ultimately responsible for any major decision a person makes. (Responsible for any hurt or pain or suffering.)

It guides a person, letting them live and letting them love, and letting them see the world around them. Without a heart, the sky is just the sky. The sky is cobalt-azure-electric-steel and almost blinding with everything it can be. The sun is yellow-orange-gold-purple, the trees are emerald-umber-lilac-sap, and the ocean is a myriad of waves and foam.

Each steady beat marks the turning of the world. A life lived. A person loved. A second passed. A wish fulfilled. Every beat is one more event, one more beginning, one more ending, one more anything—because possibilities are endless!

.oOo.

On the 19th of August, 1983, the heart of a human that was going to be called Ianto Jones began to beat.

This heart was a big heart.

The doctors didn't notice anything unusual and washed the child before bringing him out to his parents, who looked at him with love in their eyes and called him "Ianto."

"Our beautiful Ianto."

Ianto Jones grew, and so did his heart. It was a big heart, just slightly bigger than most, still unnoticed by doctors or by Ianto himself.

Ianto and his heart saw the passing of day into night and of night into day, learned how quickly cries for food or touch were answered, and discovered the joys of crawling and gaining independence. As Ianto found that his parents and sister liked playing with him, his heart found that touch made it soar, that affection elated it, that love was amazing.

Ianto and his heart moved through time in much the same way as other humans and hearts did. They saw pain and beauty, happiness and anger, sadness and fear. They felt guilt, shame, pride, joy. They lost and found, ruined and made, and grew, and grew, and grew.

Ianto and his heart met Elizabeth—Beth.

They exchanged inexperienced kisses and daintily held hands. Ianto told his heart "She's the one!" and his heart agreed entirely, and then Beth was gone and they were none the wiser.

Ianto and his heart looked at Martin in the boys' locker room, and though his heart said "Let me, please!" Ianto refused to respond. After a while, his heart only whispered such wishes.

Ianto and his heart left for London and fell—fell hard and deep and forever—for a lovely-nice-beautiful-perfect-kind girl they called Lisa.

Ianto kissed Lisa, touched her, held her, hugged her, loved her. His heart sang because this was the one. Lisa was perfect. Lisa was perfect. Lisa was perfect.

(Ianto's heart didn't even notice that she was gone, that she was gone, that she was gone, that Lisa wasn't Lisa anymore, and that there would be no more kisses and touches.)

Ianto's heart, still unusually but undetectably big, repaired itself. Ianto himself didn't know how. His heart was in pieces, barely beating, functioning just enough to keep him alive and it hurt. As Ianto staggered through time, his heart built itself up again, patching wounds, healing bruises, becoming whole again.

It took a long time.

And when Ianto woke up one morning and found that while his chest ached, it didn't hurt, he felt like he could have danced.

The sky wasn't the sky; it was cobalt-azure-electric-steel and almost blinding. The sun was yellow-orange-gold-purple, the trees outside his window were emerald-umber-lilac-sap, and the water of the bay outside the Torchwood Hub was a myriad of waves and foam.

He did dance, later that evening, had twirled around his sitting room with the knowledge that he was alive. (And yes, he would always love and miss Lisa, but he would be alright.)

Ianto and his heart fell deep and fast and hard. The heart was large and the person was loving, so it was no surprise that they embraced another heart. Embraced like they'd embraced another heart only once before, and it was a glorious, incredible feeling.

.oOo.

In the 51st century, on a small colony known as the Boeshane Peninsula, a small boy will be born.

He will be bright-eyed and brown-haired, and he will reach up at his mother with small, chubby hands, and he will smile and cry.

She will smile and cry with him, and call over her husband and he will smile and cry with them, and everyone else in the colony will smile and cry, too.

This little boy's life will be shrouded in smiles and tears, and he will endure it. This little boy, whose name will not be remembered, will be born with a slightly twisted but incredibly enduring heart.

The boy and his heart will grow up in a close community only to lose most of it, and will leave it, trying to find a happy ending, never to return. They will see and do horrible, beautiful, amazing, terrible things, and they will live through them.

The boy will grow and so will his heart, strong and slightly twisted, and they will break and they will be broken. They will learn the importance of trust and the value of hurt. The boy will learn to love the body and the heart will learn to love the person, and despite remaining together, they will separate themselves to protect themselves.

The boy will meet an incredible man who will teach him incredible things, and his heart will break when he will be abandoned.

His heart will cry and scream and shout and beat against him: "Why did he leave us?"

And the boy will say "I don't know" because he won't.

The heart will yell again: "Why weren't we enough?"

And the boy will cry, "I don't know."

The heart will wonder and ask, but the boy will have no answer, and soon the heart will stop asking. It will be strong, still slightly twisted, and will learn that the reason it's twisted is because it's easier to be cold than to be hurt.

They will love and they will lose, and heartbreak will become an almost constant emotion. The heart will deform, will scar, will look wounded and broken but still continue on, and the boy will tell it, "Just once more," and fall in love again.

And by the time the boy will find the name Captain Jack Harkness and become a man, his heart will be tired and hurt. But it will not be cold. His heart, tired-hurt-angry-broken, will fall, young and helpless, when it meets another beautiful heart.

.oOo.

It's a cold, dark night when Ianto Jones meets Captain Jack Harkness.

And that would be a good place to start, except that Ianto's heart is still in love with Lisa and Jack's heart is incapable of loving, trying to protect and heal itself.

So the people become attached as the hearts keep their distance, and it works for a while.

And then everything changes.

Time bends and rips and tears and twists, and pulls itself back together. The sky straightens out its wrinkles, the sun polishes itself and shines again, the trees lift their leaves, the ocean frolics and remembers how to live.

Jack's heart heals, just a little bit. It's twisted and scarred and weary, but it's open, and Ianto's heart, aching but resilient, finds its place.

(There is no one place for a single heart. Time is a stream of possibilities, and hearts follow that rule, but some hearts have a place. They have a purpose, and it might not be permanent. It might not be perfect.

It might be nothing, but it usually isn't.

And sometimes, hearts do find each other. Saving beacons in the dark night of a dangerous storm.)

Thanks for reading, and Happy Valentine's Day! :)