Title: Until we’re all nothing but dust
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 954 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 439 - Dust
Summary: Ianto has some tough clean-up assignments.


Ianto sighed as he knelt down next to the coffee table, spotting yet another pile of pinkish brown dust. How many was it now? Sixteen, seventeen? He'd lost count even if his clipboard hadn't.
He looked around the room, searching for a clipboard that wasn't his and finding it, reading off the name of the donor who was no more. Lucky, he thought. The last two he hadn't been able to identify so easily. He'd need to go back through the CCTV for the clinic to determine who they'd been before an alien gas had destroyed their lives.

Stephan Murphy, Ianto read, before transcribing the name onto a plastic containment bag with his permanent marker pen. Age 28. Still in his prime, but then most of them had been. He set the plastic bag aside and took out his tiny brush and pan, reverently pushing the dust from one to the other, before using the corner of the small pan to tip the contents into the bag. He carefully brushed every last grain out on the pan, though knowing that a few remnants of dust would remain in the brush head and the plastic pan, intermingling one set of remains with the next. It wasn't perfect but it was the best they could do. At least there was something left to bury and mourn over, assuming Jack ever let it leave Torchwood. Probably not, Ianto decided. Like everything else, it would stay locked away in a box down in the vaults. Death by Torchwood.

‘Makes you think twice about donating your bodily fluids for medical science, doesn't it?’ Jack asked, coming to lean in the doorway, watching Ianto draw the snap lock bag tightly shut before tucking it nearly into a box full of other bags. Too many innocent victims.

When Ianto didn't respond with a drywitted remark, Jack came over to where he was knelt and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘Thanks for doing this,’ he said.

‘It's my job.’ He bit down on the impassive uncaring tone and sighed. ‘Why do they do it?’

‘Donate sperm?’ Jack asked. ‘Money, I guess. I'm sure there are a couple with more noble ideas but–’

‘No, I meant the alien,’ Ianto said, cutting him off. ‘Why do what it does knowing it's going to kill?’

Jack gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. ‘A lot of people lose themselves in the need to reach sexual heights. The end product becomes the only thing that matters.’

‘They don't kill for it.’

Jack squeezed his shoulder. ‘The trouble with trying to understand the universe is applying humanity to everything. Not everything has a concept of love and life. For some, everything is just transactional. No different to picking up a steak at the supermarket. Whoever stops to think about why the cow had to die and whether it was fair?’ Jack heaved a sigh. ‘You know why I love this planet?’

‘I could think of a few reasons,’ Ianto quipped.

‘It's love, Ianto. Humans are the only species that love. Sure, others might mate for life, or live in loyal packs, flocks, swarms, but it's our capacity to understand and desire love that makes us different. Different here and different in other places in the universe as well. Sex can just be a good time, but for most people sex is the ultimate demonstration of love. That's not conflating two separate ideas here. If the consequences of sex were the death of another person then we'd never do it. We make conscious choices, not always the greatest good for the greatest number of people sure, but–’

‘Love is more important than personal gratification.’

Jack squeezed his shoulder again. ‘Now you're getting it. As for the rest of the universe, there’s plenty of love out there, but it's not a given. Sometimes we're just a source of food for another species. That's why the alien never stood a chance. It embodied a human with a conscience and a sense of morality and could only get what it needed by overpowering the human mind. A stronger mind might have resisted longer but similarly a weaker mind could have given up long ago, letting it kill indiscriminately long before we caught it.’

‘It's just the nature of what we do, isn't it?’

Jack nodded. ‘Yup. We stand for love and humanity in all its forms. Can't think of a better line of work to be in, can you?’

Ianto didn't look up, simply fixing his gaze on the empty spot where the pile of remains had once been, thinking about Lisa trapped down in the bowels of the hub, waiting for him to save her from the other monsters who had killed without a shred of remorse. He was all that stood between her survival and death because he loved her too much to do anything else. ‘Yes,’ he finally said.

‘Good. Now finish packing up our victims and meet me in the car. I know it's late but there's a great little place I know that serves dim sum until three in the morning.’

Ianto gave Jack his best stoic smile. ‘If it’s all the same to you, sir, I think I might just go home tonight.’

Jack cocked his head, looking slightly taken aback. ‘Did I mention the dim sum until three in the morning?’

‘Twice.’

‘Okay, well, just so long as you're sure. This job can take it out of you seeing what we see. Just so long as you're still coming back tomorrow.’

‘Bright and early, sir,’ he replied. He had to. Lisa was counting on him and he wouldn't give up on her until he was nothing more than a pile of dust himself.