Blue
Chapter 2
Everyone stared at Rhys in shock as they silently agreed he was right.
Owen approached the cell calmly … well as calmly as he could, considering it was his nephew Janet was cuddling in the corner.
"Come on honey, time for him to go" he soothed, reaching out his arms.
With infinite care, she gently placed the sleeping child into Owen's embrace and a gasp of relief escaped as Tosh freaked out quietly outside the cell door.
"Fine. He's fine" Owen reassured her as he exited the cell while checking over the sleeping tot.
Everyone else was hunting for Ianto but in the last fifteen minutes they had found nothing to suggest he was still there, only the lack of footage that might show him leaving made them all think he was still within the base somewhere and Jack's increasing dismay had them all frazzled.
"For the love of the Gods, calm down" John finally broke.
Everyone froze and turned to watch Jack's reaction.
"Calm down. CALM DOWN? Are you fucking mad?" Jack shrieked in a very un-manly way.
"Oh shit!" Owen muttered heading for the autopsy bay and the hypodermics.
"MY MATE IS GONE! BLOODY … HE'S …" Jack began to gesture wildly and Owen appeared from the bay with a needle firmly clasped in his teeth as he tried to wrap his arms around him.
John caught on and tried to help but a quick kick to his groin felled him, which left room for Rhys to step in.
The women stood with their arms crossed and shook their heads as the three men danced and struggled while John rolled around on the ground. The falling bundle of yells of pain were inevitable as was the hypodermic stuck in Rhys' arm not Jack's.
The whir of the TARDIS filled the hub and everyone stopped. Like the game "Statues" they all froze in place and when the Doctor stepped out of the police box it was to a view he had not expected.
John lay prone on the ground with Jack on top of him, Rhys on top of Jack making small guttural snores as Owen crouched with the needle in his hand.
"Interrupting something?" the doctor grinned.
"Oooo, Sweetie. That looks painful!" a new voice intoned as River exited the TARDIS to look down at the prone John.
"Fuck! Hurts!" John gasped, rubbing himself.
"Poor baby, here let me …" River started forward only to be grabbed by her husband.
"No! I don't think so," he laughed.
ooOoo
Everyone sat with their cups off coffee (tea for the Doc) and reviewed the events.
"So you actually said he was un-attractive?" River repeated.
"No! That's what he interpreted from my comment about Myfanwy." Jack sighed rubbing his face.
"So lets recap. You told him he needed help, was taking on too much and needed to take more time on his appearance" the Doctor ticked off on his fingers.
"No! Fuck. I don't know!" Jack groaned sadly. "I didn't mean it like that. I was tired too. All he ever does is moan and ask for …"
"Ask for what?" River asked leaning forward.
"Attention." Jack shrugged.
"But you told us to ignore him. "Leave him alone to sort it out for himself." You said. That he was being "Precious" and needy." Gwen growled at Jack who frowned at her.
"When?" he demanded ready to deny this was his fault.
Tosh silently clicked and replayed the footage of his express orders to leave Ianto alone.
She then played occasions of the last week where Ianto approached the team and they disbanded in different directions leaving him alone in the room. Jack shrugging him off and laughing with the team while Ianto stood silently overhead in the catwalk.
"Oh Jack! A new born baby and no support at all?" River groaned.
"You really turned your backs on a little baby and his exhausted single parent?" she continued as she turned to glare at the rest of the team.
"He is not a single parent! He's my mate!" Jack stood defensively.
"No you're not pulling that card. You left him. You abandoned him. Look for yourself. You've already replaced him with a fitter, stronger and childless playmate!" she pointed at John who now sat silently nursing an icepack.
"Oi! You know I love that boy! Both of them! Jack ordered us to stay away. It's his family, not mine. You think I liked ignoring him while he walked around half dead?" John spat.
"All he had to do was ask! Bloody ask!" Jack snarled back.
"How. Everyone kept leaving. Who could he ask Jack? Even you kept walking away. From normally touching each other every given moment to total deprivation. Poor little thing." River sighed as Jack watched the screen with more images of Ianto's growing dismay clearly shown.
"No wonder in his half crazed state he thinks it's either the baby's fault or his that you don't want him anymore. Thank god he's a good parent to want his baby safe, even if it does clearly show he has decided it's him that's the problem. River groaned rubbing her neck.
"Oh Gods" Jack placed his face in his hands unable to deny the truth of his stupidity.
"OK. It's fine to sit here ruminating but what about Ianto? This doesn't get us any closer to finding him and fixing this bloody mess we all helped create!" Gwen stated the obvious.
"OK. Where are blue prints for this place? Let's mark off where we've looked and split the unmarked regions up?" Rhys joined the conversation as the sedative finally wore off.
Everyone stared at Rhys in shock as they silently agreed he was right.
They began a systematic sweep of the hub's lower levels and finally two hours later were no closer to finding Ianto, though they did find a loose fibble that had escaped some months ago from Owen's lab and his joy at finding it was the only highlight of the day so far.
Sitting quietly back in their original positions they had to concede defeat. They had searched the entire hub and even though Ianto had not left, he was still gone.
John stood in the kitchen doorway watching Jack fall apart. Looking up at the Gods for help he saw instead the ladder to Myfanwy's nest. With the groan at his own stupidity he quietly began to climb the ladder to her lair.
Reaching the top John paused and looked into the gloom of the cave-like nesting area. The beast was lying in the back with her body curled up, much like a cat and John could make out the dark hair peeking out from beneath a wing.
With a sigh of relief he crawled slowly towards the 'dactyl and her little chick.
"Ianto? Babe?" John said softly and was relieved to see Ianto stir in the winged embrace.
"John?" Ianto woke slowly, blinking in confusion at John.
"Hey little chickie. What you doing up here?" John said softly.
"Johnnie?" Ianto rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and John reached for him.
Ianto crawled away from Myfanwy and into John's arms. John softly crooned to Ianto kissing his forehead as he pulled him towards the ladder.
"Mmmm. No. They're mean to me. I like it here in the quiet" Ianto buried his face in John's neck sucking his fingers and John responded by hugging Ianto tighter.
"I'm so tired Johnnie. So bloody tired. It's too cold here." Ianto muttered snuggling deeper into his neck with his free hand sliding inside his jacket to hug his waist.
With a flick of his wrist strap he fixed the problem.