Remember When

Chapter Three

"Ianto?" Owen slapped the Welshman's face, thinking that any other time he'd be enjoying this. "Come on, mate, it's time to wake up." He pushed the plunger on the antidote, sending even more of the lime green fluid through the transparent tubing and into Ianto's veins.

Sitting on the other side of the med bay's table, Jack held tightly to his lover's hand, drawing it to his chest and pressing it against his heart. 'Please come back to me, my beloved. I can't live without you.'

On the upper level, Gwen leaned on the railing staring down into the autopsy bay and muttering to herself while Toshiko alternated between pacing back and forth and checking her PDA to see Ianto's vital signs for herself. She'd turned off the beeping that echoed Owen's machines after Gwen had offered to stick the handheld device "…where the sun don't shine!"

Owen moved his mini-torch back and forth across Ianto's pupils, hoping for a reaction. At first, there was none, but at the end of the last pass, he noticed a tiny flicker. "There!" he crowed triumphantly. "Ianto!" Owen reached out, preparing to slap the Welshman again but this time, Jack grabbed his hand.

"Stop that!" the immortal growled. "Leave him to me." Jack pulled the oxygen cannula below Ianto's chin and then sealed his lips to his lover's. Using all his might the immortal 'pushed' his life force into Ianto's still body.

Gwen made a sound of disgust as she watched the scene below. "Oh, give it a rest, Jack!" she exclaimed sharply. "You tried that before; it didn't work then and it's not going to work now!" It really pissed her off that Jack hadn't left Ianto's side in almost fifty-six hours. She'd tried several times to separate the two men, to take Jack up to his office where she could comfort him in private, away from the prying and judgemental eyes of her teammates, but to no avail.

"Shut up, you bitch!" Tosh suddenly snapped; she'd had all she could take of Gwen bloody Cooper. "Ianto is only in this condition because you deliberately pushed him in harm's way to save your own bloody skin!"

Gwen's face blanched and her jaw dropped; she didn't think anyone had seen her. When Ianto had fallen into a deep coma from which they weren't sure he'd recover, she was certain she'd gotten off Scott-free. And then Owen had discovered a serum which he prayed would counter the disastrous effects of the alien beam.

"What's this now?" Owen's head whipped around and he stared at Gwen, noticing the ugly flush on her face and the way she refused to meet his eyes. "What did you do to Ianto, Cooper?"

"It was nothing," she shrugged. "He tripped…"

"You pushed him into the path of that alien beam, Gwen! He was holding the door open for you to escape and you shoved him out of the way. You didn't have to do that; he was letting you go first!" Toshiko's voice was bordering on shrill as she recounted what she had discovered on the CCTV footage she'd recovered from the warehouse's computer system. What she had seen had sickened her as she watched the way Gwen had cruelly sacrificed Ianto to save herself.

"I thought he'd be okay! He was supposed to be right behind me!" Gwen protested, trying to defend her actions. In her mind, she truly believed she was innocent. "Stupid boy," she muttered under her breath."

"What did you just say?" Tosh demanded to know.

"Nothing," Gwen responded sullenly. Things weren't turning out the way she'd planned. No one was supposed to find out what she'd done and 'damn it, bloody Ianto is supposed to be out of the picture!'

"You can't be that stupid, you miserable git!" Owen spluttered angrily, trusting Tosh's judgement on the matter. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

Tosh murmured her agreement.

Owen was on a roll. "You hoped the alien beam would kill Ianto so you could get your hands on Jack, you sick selfish cow!"

"Owen…?"

"Does your husband know you're willing to commit murder to get into another man's bed, you…!"

"Owen!"

"Would you shut up!" Torchwood's medic was livid as he spun around. "I'm talking he…!" His voice trailed off as he saw that it was Ianto who'd interrupted him. "You! You're awake!" He grabbed his stethoscope and poked at Ianto's chest with great enthusiasm. "How do you feel? Are you all right? Does this hurt?"

"Yes, it's me. I feel a little tired, but okay. Yes, I believe I'm all right and yes! That hurts! Stop poking me with your bony finger!" Ianto smiled, taking any sting out of his words. "Doctor Harper, you've saved me again. You are indeed a miracle worker." He felt Jack squeeze his hand and he squeezed back, acknowledging between them that it was the influx of Jack's endless life force that had actually saved his life.

Upon hearing Ianto's voice, Tosh rushed down the stairs and flung her arms around her best friend, hugging him tightly as tears began to fall. "I was so afraid you were gone from us!"

"I'm okay now, Tosh, I promise." Ianto kept hold of Jack's hand even as he comforted her. "Everything is going to be all right."

"No, mate, it's not all right." Owen shook his head. "Gwen threw you to the wolves to…"

Ianto released Tosh and held up his hand. "I remember what happened, Owen." He raised his eyes to meet Gwen's. "Now that we know what Gwen's capable of, we can all be on our guard when we're out in the field with her."

Jack curled around Ianto, laying his head on his chest, listening to every beat of his beloved Welshman's heart. "I was so scared, Yan." There was a noticeable tremor to his voice. "Owen didn't know if you would ever wake up even though in your brain the REM waves were going crazy; it looked like you were having great dreams."

"I guess I was and they were wonderful, Jack." Ianto threaded his fingers through Jack's hair enjoying the sensation of the silken threads sliding against his skin. "We were so happy."

"Yeah?" Jack kissed Ianto's chest. "What were we doing?"

"Well, we were married for a start, and we had twins, Lily and Gareth – they were ten years old – and we had two dogs named Myfanwy and Scooter. We had…"

"Scooter?" Jack chuckled merrily, shaking them both. "What kind of a dog name is Scooter?"

"I don't know; you would never tell me why you picked that name." Ianto shrugged. "Anyway, we had such a lovely cottage and a big back garden full of veg and there were fruit trees…" His breath caught in his throat and a small sob escaped. "You had just told me you were pregnant again after all those years of waiting and hoping."

Joy lifted Jack's spirit and filled his soul. "Really? A baby? That would be so cool!" He hugged Ianto. "Tell me more! Tell me about the kids… no, wait! Tell me about the garden first cos the kids will take longer."

Ianto settled more comfortably and his fingers resumed carding slowly through Jack's hair. "Well, it was late summer and the garden was in full swing. I was canning and pickling and freezing stuff almost every day. The apple trees were so heavy with fruit that you had to prop up one of the branches with a pole to keep the apples off the ground."

With the stress of worrying about Ianto, Jack hadn't slept in more than two days and he was truly exhausted; he dozed off to the sound of Ianto's voice, his slow, even breathing warm against Ianto's skin.

"We were so happy, Cariad," Ianto whispered as he pulled the duvet over Jack's shoulders. "We had everything we could ever have hoped for and more."

With visions of Jack sitting at the kitchen table, his belly large and full of life, talking to him as he worked, Ianto fell asleep and dreamt of making an apple pie for his growing family.

End

Remember When

Remember when I was young and so were you
And time stood still and love was all we knew
You were the first, so was I
We made love and then you cried
Remember when

Remember when we vowed the vows and walked the walk
Gave our hearts, made the start, it was hard
We lived and learned, life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when

Remember when old ones died and new were born
And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other's hearts
Remember when

Remember when the sound of little feet
Was the music we danced to week to week
Brought back the love, we found trust
Vowed we'd never give it up
Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookin' back, it's just a steppin' stone
To where we are, where we've been
Said we'd do it all again
Remember when

Remember when we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up and move away
We won't be sad, we'll be glad
For all the life we've had
And we'll remember when

Remember when
Remember when

Songwriters: ALAN JACKSON