Title: A Nice Thought
Author: heeroluva
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Warnings: scarification, angst
Disclaimer: I don't own them. I just like to play with them.
Summary: Ianto muses over Jack's scars.
Notes: All mistakes are mine. Feel free to let me know if you see any. As always feedback is appreciated.

Ianto enjoyed watching Jack sleep. He didn't get to do it often as Jack rarely slept and when he did it wasn't often in Ianto's presence. The few times it had happened Ianto had reveled in it, in the fact that Jack would trust him when he was so vulnerable. He didn't mean physical vulnerability because even if he had the desire to hurt Jack physically, Jack would easily heal. No, it was the fact that Jack trusted Ianto with his mental well being.

When Jack slept he lost his masks, leaving him looking so unbelievable young, sad, and lonely. The weight of the world that he carried on his shoulders during the day but pretended didn't affect him, didn't slip away with sleep. In fact, it seemed to weight him down more.

Ianto's eyes were drawn to the scars that decorated Jack's body. There weren't many of them, but Ianto knew every one of them, having traced them all with fingers and tongue. Jack had never commented on the action, and Ianto had never dared to voice his questions knowing how much Jack valued his privacy.

Without thought his fingers began tracing the scars. Ianto had always wondered why Jack had never had them removed, knew that the technology to remove scars was commonplace where he was from. When he began to trace patterns over clear skin, he didn't realize at first that he was tracing the places where Jack should have scars, places where he had been injured, and wounds that he had died from. Jack would never scar again. He was timeless and unchanging. In a million years his body would still look the same.

It was a depressing train of thought and Ianto didn't let himself follow it, couldn't go that route, knowing it brought nothing but pain and instead went back to tracing the scars that Jack did have; the knife and bullet wounds were the most common, but he had one particularly bad ray gun burn on his inner thigh, dangerously close to Jack's pride and joy. He hesitated before tracing over that one knowing how sensitive it was, how it always made Jack shiver before lightly trailing his finger tips over it.

"They're memories."

Ianto jumped, raising guilty eyes to Jack, not having realized that the older man had been awake, wondering how long Jack had been pretending.

Jack's eyes were bright and lucid, no sign of sleep in them. "After what the Agency did to me, stealing my memories, I didn't want to forget anymore. I wanted to keep the memories."

Ianto's heart clenched at the words, knowing how much Jack had lost over the years, how much he would keep continuing to lose. Leaning forward he placed a soft kiss on Jack's lips. "I wish I could mark you, so that you'll never forget me." He didn't mean to say it, but he couldn't take the words back.

A small frown tugged at the edges of Jack's mouth as he reached up to cup Ianto's cheek. "Oh, Ianto. I will never forget you."

Ianto buried his face in Jack's neck, nodding his agreement as he softly kissed the skin there. He wouldn't voice his disbelief, couldn't say that this was one promise that he knew Jack couldn't keep. It was a nice thought at least.