Amends--Chapter One – Ianto

Title: Amends--Chapter One – Ianto
Author: Cat2000
Fandom: Torchwood - Spoilers through Episode 13 of Season 1
Characters: Jack and Ianto
Prompt: Candy Cane

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Torchwood and I’m not making any money from this fic

Summary 1: Nothing was really the same between Jack and his team after the Rift was opened... It’s going to take something drastic for things to get back to normal

Summary 2: It’s Christmas after the episode End of Days, and Ianto brings up his willingness to turn against Jack, since it’s supposed to be a time of new beginnings

Author’s Note: The first chapter of this is inspired by the prompt Candy Cane. I have also only seen up to the first season of Torchwood before writing this, so I apologise for any mistakes with the canon

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When Jack opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that Ianto wasn’t lying next to him anymore. He frowned slightly, and sat up, looking around. A glance at the clock revealed that it was eight in the morning... Unless there was an emergency, it was the day off for the people of Torchwood.

And Jack was supposed to be spending it with Ianto. It was unlikely that the other man would have left the base... which probably meant that he was in the other room, where Jack had put the Christmas presents. No matter how old he was, Jack was never going to get tired of Christmas on Earth.

After he pulled his clothes on, Jack headed through to the office and paused as he saw Ianto standing there, just inside the door. “Hey there.” He came up behind the other man and kissed him lightly on the back of the neck. “You should have woken me up... Merry Christmas, Ianto.”

“Merry Christmas.” Ianto didn’t turn round, though, and he sounded quite subdued.

“You know... Christmas is supposed to be a happy time,” Jack commented. “Season of goodwill and all that. It’s almost illegal to be so quiet.” He gave his usual grin. “Are we going to open some of these presents? Or just stand around doing nothing?”

Ianto took a slight breath, and picked out a gift that was in the shape of a curved stick. He handed it to Jack without a word, and didn’t meet the captain’s eyes.

“What’s this? A giant candy cane?” Despite the light-heartedness of his tone, Jack was more than a little concerned about the way Ianto was acting. As he held the gift, he tried to remember if he’d done anything potentially upsetting to the other man. Trouble was, Ianto could be extremely sensitive at times – and he was the sort to hide it away if someone had upset him.

“Would you just open it, please, sir?”

Jack raised his eyebrows at the ‘sir.’ Ianto only used that when they were playing – but the other man wasn’t acting like he was playing. Shrugging slightly, he opened the present; and smiled as he saw that it was an old-school cane. “Ianto... Where did you get this from?” he asked, delighted. “Did you want to use it in anything in particular? Perhaps a headmaster with a bad pupil?” he suggested.

“I was thinking that it would be a good thing to use on a disobedient member of Torchwood who helped to open the Rift and nearly caused the whole world to be destroyed.”

Looking up at him, Jack realised that Ianto was serious. “You know, Ianto, we’ve already talked about this... I thought we were past it.” He dropped his joking tone, and thought that he probably should have seen this coming. Even though he’d been acting like everything was back to normal – because as far as he was concerned, it was – the rest of the team had been acting like they were walking on eggshells around him. He’d ignored it in the hopes that they’d eventually get over it.

Apparently, though, they hadn’t. Or, at least, Ianto hadn’t.

“What we did was unforgiveable. We should have – I should have – realised that you had a good reason for refusing to open the Rift.” Ianto finally looked up at him. “I don’t know if the others feel the same – but this is how I feel.”

For a few moments, Jack considered it. Personally, he didn’t feel that punishment for what had happened was necessary. If one looked at it from a certain angle, he was almost as much at fault as the rest of them. He could have handled the whole thing in a better way, rather than force the team to join together in order to bring back what they’d lost.

But if Ianto felt like he deserved punishment, Jack knew that he was going to have to provide it; though he could think of much better ways to spend his Christmas.

Jack indicated the desk. “Bend over.”

Ianto pushed some of the presents to one side, and leaned over the desk, his fingers clutching the wood on the other side. The desk was wide enough that he had to stretch up on tiptoes to be able to do that.

Standing behind him, Jack lightly rested the cane on Ianto’s jean-clad backside. For a few moments, he just tapped it lightly against the other man’s trousers, waiting for Ianto to relax. When he did, Jack lifted the cane, and snapped it down hard.

Ianto gasped, and his fingers clenched hard on the desk. Jack waited for him to relax again before delivering the second strike, and this time, Ianto almost stood up. Jack said nothing – simply waited for him to get back into position again, so that he could bring the cane down for the third time.

Ianto’s breath hissed out sharply, and when he delivered a fourth strike, Jack heard the man’s breath hitch. He brought the cane down twice more, and heard the first sob wrenched from Ianto’s throat. When Jack paused, Ianto started to push himself up; but Jack pushed him back down again. “We’re not finished yet.”

Though he ducked his head in acknowledgment, Ianto didn’t say anything. Jack kept his hand on Ianto’s back as he brought the cane down again – this time across the other six strikes. The eighth and final one, he landed diagonally the other way, and that was when he could hear Ianto’s sobs grow in intensity.

Dropping the cane onto the floor, Jack helped Ianto up, and held the other man close, letting him cry on his shoulder. As Ianto sobbed out apologies, Jack listened, knowing that he needed to let it out; that he’d needed the freedom to cry for some time.

End of Chapter One