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Fat drops of rain tried to wriggle under Ianto's collar, and he felt another hike of annoyance at Rhia for not dropping his coat off like he'd asked. She'd said she had some shopping to do and would drop it in before lunch. Bah!

Here he was, waiting and he hoped Rhia remembered to drop Walter off at the studio with Babs as they had a call back and it seemed his alarm was still beeping away god damn it all.

And now it was bloody raining, his coat was still in Rhi's car, and the coffee he had purchased was gone somehow, he was dying for a coffee.

He felt something brush along his neck and the sensation was gone, the rain was stopped and he was dry once more. He sighed softly with annoyance.

"Easy there Tiger" the voice said softly, American and something … familiar.

Ianto tried to grasp onto it but he was slipping and could only cry out as the darkness swallowed him again.

.

.

.

.

"Did you see that?" Jack said across the bed as Owen stood watching Jack and the sponge bath in progress, "He responded."

"Might have been an involuntary movement" Owen warned, "I know you want him to wake up but there is no time limit here. He has to come back in his own time."

"I know" Jack leaned back in the chair and rubbed his face, "But it's almost two weeks since the attack, I need …"

Jack let his head fall onto the hand that had twitched ….tightened …. That he was still clasping as he broke down and Owen moved around the bed to comfort him.

Since entering the school to find Ianto beaten to unconsciousness and Idris struggling with the assailant things had been surreal.

Idris had also been injured in the struggle, his own broken arm causing further anger and strain in the family while the man Jack had calmly beaten to a pulp before Carl and Jarred had helped Gene finally pull him off had been identified as one of the pricks that had been with Hartman the day they almost took Bethy.

Jack didn't care about the politics.

People came.

People went.

They spoke as he looked at Ianto's still face, the swelling and bruising getting worse after the first surgery to rebuild his eye socket and cheek bone, the second surgery for the sinus infection that had led to a blood infection had almost taken him from Jack.

Jack still felt awful about his reaction to the attack, his animalistic side he had thought long since dead and buried had come to the fore in a heartbeat and he still heard his own primal screams of rage with each swing of his boot at the man's body.

Ianto's hand was pale, cool and so ….still.

Jack caressed those knuckles and kissed that hand as the wedding band glinted, ran his fingers around that wrist, up the elbow as he spoke softly to Ianto, telling him about the flowers he had seen waiting at reception for him.

Still Ianto breathed in and out as the machines hissed and beeped.

Jack knew Ianto would be hating the beeping if he was able to hear it, repetitive sound like that drove him mad and he had asked several times if they could be turned off to silence the room.

With a soft sigh Jack reached out the hand not clasping Ianto's to turn on the CD player and Babbit's soft voice filled the room as she read poetry with gentle background music.

It had been Eugene's idea, seeing Jack's dismay at the noises in the room and knowing his boy would be annoyed with the beeping. The children were taking turns reading things they knew Ianto loved, even Ton singing little songs that didn't always make sense but they knew Ianto would find amusing.

Traumatic Brain Injury.

That had been the official word but Jack didn't care what label they wanted to put on it. All he knew was that the bastard had bashed Ianto's head in with the crowbar and taken him away.

What was left was fighting to come back with everything he had.

Jack knew he was.

He expected nothing less.