Title: To The Sticking Place
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Owen/Tosh
Genres: AU, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Length: Epic (96,673 words)
Warnings: Gore, past suicide, past abuse, off-screen torture

Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: zephyras13 @ AO3

Author's Summary:
The end justifies the means. Failure is not an option. There is always a choice, except when there isn't. These are the phrases Ianto Jones lives by and he refuses to allow anyone, even Captain Jack Harkness, to change that.

Review:
Jack is forced by Yvonne Hartman of Torchwood One fame to take one of her top agents into his team - Agent Ianto Jones. This is a far more damaged and hardened Ianto, undisturbed by the crueller methods of Torchwood One not due to sadism, but rather apathy formed by a far harsher past than the one that canon Ianto experienced.

Despite all his antagonistic qualities, this is a version of Ianto just as easy to love as his canon incarnation. It's easy to feel sorry for this clearly depressed Ianto who is looked upon with disgust and suspicion by the rest of Torchwood Three. The team isn't happy about his presence at Three, with Ianto viewed as the loose cannon who could any minute go off on an alien-murdering rampage, held back only by Jack's orders. Though I love the team at Three it's easy to see them acting like this, determined to see their world in shades of black and white, with a stubborn Jack certainly not helping matters. Ianto has to deal not only with their undisguised suspicion, but also their chaotic working environment, obviously not one that would be acceptable at One.

The Ianto/Jack is understandably a slow build, as Jack slowly overcomes his prejudices and actually bothers to look below the surface when it comes to Ianto, and a still-hurting Ianto begins to recover somewhat from what he's been through. This whole fic is a slow carthasis for both them, and it was for me as a reader too, seeing these damaged two become whole again together. Ianto is almost woobie-like in his characterisation, but thankfully the author has a great handle on his sarcasm and pragmatism, two of my favourite of Ianto's characteristics. Ianto is a bit down but certainly not out, with his quiet strength shining through and really making you root for him.

To The Sticking Place