Curiantoe

Chapter 2

Owen stood outside the operating theatre of the University Hospital and looked at his hands covered in powder from the latex gloves he had recently removed. They were shaking slightly. His mind kept flashing back to the sight of Ianto lying in a pool of blood. When Jack had called him down to the archives with a panicked voice Owen was prepared for something bad. It was still a shock to see Ianto's unmoving form with Jack leaning over him and pressing his hands to Ianto's chest to stop the flow of blood. Jack's blue shirt was stained red and blood coated his skin from hand to elbow.

'Another dead one.' Owen had thought.

Although there was a faint pulse Ianto had lost more blood than most people could survive. And so followed a nightmare of blood, ambulances and operating theatres. No matter how much medical experience Owen had, it was a little too close to home.

When Owen entered the waiting room he had been ambushed on by Gwen and Toshiko. "How is he? Is he going to be ok?" Gwen asked. Jack didn't even look up. He knew the answer.

"He's alive." Owen said. Jack's head shot up. Owen directed the next comment to Jack. "The next few hours really matter, but if he recovers from the surgery alright, he should make a full recovery."

A slow smile spread across Jack's face until Owen was dazzled by the half moon of white teeth.

...........

Jack was frustrated. It wasn't a feeling he was used to. It had been a very long time since he hadn't been able to simply take what he wanted. The strain was starting to get to him.

Ianto was recovering steadily from his injury, but Jack had been instructed by Owen to keep his hands off for at least another couple of weeks. Jack didn't want to loose faith with the Welshman so he couldn't seek fulfilment elsewhere. To top it all off investigation into the Curiantoe Stone and the creature that had attacked Ianto had come to a grinding halt.

To start with they were inundated with leads. It wasn't just Ianto who had been attacked. Apparently simultaneously across Cardiff, stone shaped objects had dissolved into black creatures attacking anyone present. Most of the stones had been in peoples families for years until time forgot how they came to be there. Others were picked up more recently in gardens or on beaches.

The Torchwood archives had revealed little information. The stones had traces of rift energy and so had apparently come through the rift, but not much else could be discerned. The stones had been named by a Torchwood agent for the propensity for people to keep them as curios. Even with the massive Torchwood database at his disposal Jack had been unable to find any other information on the stones or the black creatures that had emerged from them. Although over one hundred people had been attacked, all the black creatures had disappeared without a trace. Considering that some of the stones must have opened without anyone around, there were likely to be many hundreds of these creatures hiding somewhere in Cardiff.

Jack looked up from his desk at Ianto walking across the office to bend tentatively down to reach a pizza box that someone had carelessly left on the floor. Ianto grimaced slightly. Jack didn't notice. He noticed the way Ianto's suit stretched taunt against his behind and along his back. He noticed the tight muscles of Ianto's calves. He noticed the way that a small glimpse of red sock could be seen under Ianto's trouser leg.

Jack grabbed his Webley and swung on his great coat. "I'm off Weevil hunting" he called over his shoulder as he left the Hub. It was going to be a long two weeks.