Take Care

Title: Take Care
Word count: 1,854
Setting: Post-Countrycide
Disclaimer: All rights go to the BBC

It was a difficult journey for all of them.

Jack was trying to concentrate on the road, and not his broken team mates all around him.

Next to him, Owen was mentally trying to work out everyone's injuries and how to treat all 3 (excluding himself and Jack, who both actually not bad) of them at once.

Behind him, Tosh, who out of the 3 in back was probably in the best shape, was trying to fall asleep against the window, but Jack was driving too fast over a bumpy road in his haste to get them as far away from Brecon as fast as possible, so sleep was impossible.

Next to her, Gwen was planning how she could cover all this up to Rhys. She would have to call him sooner or later. Could she say she was attacked? But by whom? Teenagers? He would probably believe that. Wouldn't he? Owen would have to come home with her and tell Rhys what he'd done to her so he would believe she was alright to go back to work.

Next to her and behind Jack, Ianto was in the worse state. Everything hurt. Breathing hurt. Canary Wharf wasn't half as bad as this; he'd been down in archives when it'd happened, and the worst he'd got out of that was a few cuts and bruises on his arms. Now, he was covered in massive cuts and bruises all over his body (especially that massive cut on his neck from where the knife had been), he was nauseous, he had an absolutely killing headache, and he was pretty sure he'd broken some ribs.

Gwen turned to look at him. He really didn't look good. They were all silently scared about what they'd done to Ianto; no questions asked, he had clearly taken the worst out of all of them.

Gingerly, she leaned over and touched his hand. He didn't respond.
"Hey?" she said quietly. He turned to look at her. "I suppose 'are you okay' would be totally pointless?" Much to her relief, Ianto laughed. He stopped suddenly, grabbing his ribs in pain. Owen turned around.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Nothing." Ianto wheezed, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"Do you feel nauseous? Even just a little?"
Ianto nodded. "A little."
Owen turned to Jack. "Stop the car!"

A few minutes later, Jack managed to pull over. "What is it?" he asked Owen, concern all over his face.
Owen turned to face the 3 in the back. "Does anyone other than Ianto feel at all nauseous? You need to be honest."

Gwen and Tosh both shook their heads.
"Right," Owen continued, "Ianto, you come and sit in the front, Gwen, you take his seat, I'll take yours. Any questions? No? Good." And with that, Owen jumped out of the car.

Gwen undid her seatbelt and waited for Ianto to do the same. He just sat there, staring straight ahead. Owen made his way round the car, opened Ianto's door, and saw him. He waved his hand in front of Ianto's face. Nothing. Clicked his fingers. Nothing.
"Right," he said, "sorry about this mate." He turned to Jack. "Could you just hit the horn, please?"
Jack did so without hesitation. Ianto jumped in his seat, as did Tosh. Tosh knew what was going on though, and just went back to sleep. Gwen gently moved Tosh's head onto her shoulder. Ianto, however, had no idea, and started to panic. Doing so, though, made his ribs hurt more, making him double over.

Gwen undid his seatbelt for him, and Owen supported him by the shoulders and got him out of the car. Owen could hear Ianto's ribs creaking, and, for the first time in his life, he pitied the tea boy. He never thought that would happen.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

It had taken half an hour, but they'd finally made the seat switch. On the plus side, Tosh had fallen asleep!

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Three hours later, they were all sitting in Owen's autopsy bay, waiting for him to tell them their results.

"Okay!" came his voice getting their attention. "Jack; you are fine. Gwen; other than that bullet wound, which is doing pretty well by the way, you're fine too. Tosh; a few bruises on your neck and the back of your knee, nothing too drastic. And Ianto-"
Owen stopped himself. Ianto's results; they were too much. As a doctor, he knew they weren't what he should tell everyone. He looked at Ianto. He didn't even seem to be paying attention.
"I think," he started again, "Gwen and Toshiko, I think you two should go home. I want to talk to Jack and Ianto, then I'll head home myself."

Gwen and Tosh were gone in a matter of minutes. Owen turned to the other men.
"Right, Ianto." Ianto didn't respond. "Mate?" Jack and Owen simultaneously waved their hands in front of Ianto's face. Owen gave him a gentle shake. He blinked and focused on Owen.
"Okay," Owen continued, "Ianto, you've broken half of your ribs, got loads of cuts and bruises, although I'm sure you knew that already, and you've got concussion." Ianto only seemed to be half listening. Owen sighed and turned to Jack. "Did you get that, at least?"
"Yeah," he replied, "yeah, I did." They both looked at Ianto, who was miles away. Jack turned back to Owen. "What should we do with him?"
"Well, I say you take him home and keep an eye on him. I thought I'd check on the girls. Make sure he doesn't watch TV or anything like that. He needs lots of rest, but make sure you wake him up every hour and ask him some questions. Nothing too complicated; what's his name, address, phone number, work, general stuff. Think you can handle that, Captain?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I can handle that."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"Ianto? Come on, Ianto, wake up." Jack shook Ianto lightly. The young man was fast asleep in bed. Jack was starting to get used to this. They'd got to his flat at 1:28, where he'd immediately started the questions. Luckily, Ianto had done fine, and Jack had sent him to bed. Since then, every hour, Jack would wake him up and go through the whole charade again. He was getting used to the whole thing. After the 3rd time, he'd called Owen and told him Ianto was doing fine. Owen had told him to stay. Ianto wasn't improving, but he wasn't getting worse either, thank Christ.

Now, though, he wouldn't wake up. Jack didn't really want to wake him up anyway. He looked so young sleeping. So vulnerable. But he knew he had to.

"Ianto? Ianto, wake up. Come on, Yan. You've got to wake up." The Welshman didn't budge. "If you don't wake up in the next three seconds, I'm calling Owen. 1. 2. 3, right I'm calling him." Jack pulled out his mobile and speed-dialled Owen.
"Jack?" Owen answered almost immediately. "What happened? Is he okay?" He sounded scared, which surprised Jack. So did the tone of his own voice.
"He's asleep, and won't wake up, and I don't know what to do!" Jack was honestly scared.
"Okay, well I'm really sorry but I can't come over right now. Use the smelling salts I gave you in case of emergency, and if he still doesn't wake up, call me, and I'll come over. Okay?"
"Thanks, Owen." Jack hung up. He ran into Ianto's living room, and found the overnight bag he'd brought. He dug around for a minute until he found the bottle of smelling salts Owen had given him. He checked his watch; 9:30 AM. He ran into Ianto's room and stuck the bottle under Ianto's nose. He held up for two and half minutes, then woke up coughing and spluttering.
"Yan, Yan, its okay, I'm here, calm down, you're safe." Jack grabbed Ianto's shoulders and sat down next to him.

Ianto looked at him, then burst into tears. Jack cradled him against his chest and let Ianto sob down his shirt. When he finally regained his composure, he looked and Jack, waiting for him to tell him what to do. To be honest, Jack was waiting for someone to tell him what to do too.
Jack sighed, "I think it would be good if you went away for a week. Do you have any family you could stay with?"

Ianto thought about it. "I suppose I could stay with my sister. I don't if she'd let me though. I should call her."
"Okay."

Ianto went into his living room. He was still in his blood stained clothes from the previous day. Jack watched him go. That had been his first time out in the field, and look what had happened. Jack really wasn't sure what to do with him anymore.

Ianto came back in. "I didn't tell her what happened, just asked if I could stay with her for a week. She said I can." There was a moment of silence. "Do you still think I should?"

Jack wasn't really sure. He wanted Ianto to be safe; he probably would be at his sister's. But he didn't want him to go; he wanted him where he could see him. He probably should talk this through with Owen.
"I'll just call Owen. Make sure it's okay."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

20 minutes and a very long conversation with Owen later, and Ianto was taking a shower while Jack packed a suitcase for him. He'd put Ianto on paid leave for a week when he got back to the Hub, and Ianto promised he'd call both him and Owen every day to assure them he was fine.

Ianto came out of the bathroom in the clothes he'd taken in with him just as Jack finished packing for him.
"Thanks, Jack." He said, smiling a little, although it hurt his cut lip. "For everything. I don't know what I'm going to tell Rhiannon happened to me!" he laughed, then clutched his ribs again, close to tears.
Jack couldn't stand to see Ianto like this. "Come here." he said, crossing the room, and before Ianto could protest, hugged him.

They stood there for a few minutes, holding each other in their arms. Jack finally broke away, although he didn't want to.
"Are you okay to drive?" he asked Ianto. "Or would you like me to take you?"
Ianto thought about it. "No, I'll be fine. You should probably get back to the Hub anyway. God knows what's happened while you were away." He didn't laugh this time, just smiled weakly. He took the suitcase off of the bed and walked towards the door. He turned back to Jack. "Can you show yourself out?" Jack nodded. "Bye, Jack. Take care." And with that, he was gone.

Jack had no idea how long he stood there in Ianto's bedroom. He heard his car go. He heard his neighbours argue. He heard his landlord fix a pipe upstairs, then curse when water went everywhere. He wasn't waiting for anything, he was just standing there. Then, eventually, when he realised Ianto wasn't coming back, he left.

A/N: Please tell me what you think! I've got a sequel for this ready if anyone wants me to post it. If not, that's fine. All reviews welcome!