Jack looked at the computer screen unable to find which hospital Ianto had been taken. Gwen hadn't answered her phone when he rung. Anxiety swam in his stomach. He needed to see Ianto. He needed to make sure his lover was all right and alive.
Jack paused. Swanson had said Ianto's next of kin didn't want him or Gwen around. He bit his lip. He thought he had been listed as Ianto's next of kin in case of emergency. He paused and brought up Ianto's personnel file. Parents deceased. Sister living.
A sister. Rhiannon Davies.
Jack hacked into the police database. He looked for any reports with the name Davies but found that nothing could be found. Had their records¬––? Jack growled and kept looking. He finally caught the record logs for incoming calls.
He found it. 9:53 p.m. The call from Newport that had saved Ianto's life. Why hadn't Ianto called him? Jack closed his eyes and listened to the call. Rhiannon sounded so frantic…what had Ianto said to her that tipped her off?
His eyes stung as he caught sight of the gun on the desk. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
-
Rhiannon woke up with a jolt. She blinked as the sunlight assaulted her eyes and wondered why her neck hurt so much. Rhiannon struggled to get a good look at her surroundings. In an instant the memories of last night flooded her mind. Her eyes immediately went to the figure in bed.
Ianto was asleep, safe and sound. The steady beeping of track of his still beating heart. Rhiannon grabbed his hand and was comforted by its warmth. Ianto still hadn't woken up but the doctors had told her it might take him a while to wake up and heal.
He looked so much thinner than she remembered. He hadn't been taking care of himself. How the hell hadn't his boyfriend not noticed? She fumed at the thought and yawned. She needed to go to the restroom, and call Johnny but Rhiannon was frightened that Ianto would wake up alone. She wondered how he would feel.
The pressure in her bladder told her she needed to go now or she'd wet herself. Rhiannon stretched and ran to the public privy down the hall. After she went, she called Johnny.
She checked in. She couldn't smile when he told her the kids were fine and missed her.
She ran back to Ianto's room, feeling a bit winded. Ianto was still asleep. Rhiannon felt better. Rhiannon was about to go out to look for a magazine when she heard a telephone ring. She looked in her bag and pulled out Ianto's cell phone.
She had nearly forgotten that PC Davidson had given her the cell phone. She looked at the name on the screen and nearly screamed when she saw the name. "Jack". She wanted to answer and scream to him but decided against it. She silenced the call and waited for it to end. She turned off the phone.
She sat next to Ianto's bed and waited. She needed to think about Ianto's treatment. She needed to think of a way to keep Harkness and Cooper away from her little brother. She looked at his sleeping face knew she wouldn't let him down.
-
Jack smiled when the phone call rang. He had found Ianto, even if the phone had been turned off he knew where it was. He looked at the hospital and rushed to the SUV.
-
Ianto felt foggy as he woke up. He felt confused and when it came back to him he wanted to cry. Fuck.
"Ianto?" He heard a familiar voice call. Ianto looked over, surprised.
"Rhi?" He couldn't quite believe she was there. "Rhi?" He asked again.
"Oh, Ianto." She practically sobbed. She reached over and took his hand into hers. "I'm sorry I didn't answer the phone. I love you, Ianto. I don't want you gone."
"Rhi, I'm sorry." He whispered. He swallowed painfully and he opened his mouth with a grimace. Rhiannon shook her head.
"You probably need water. Let me call the doctor." Rhiannon said softly, she kissed him softly on the cheek, squeezed his hand and went to find Doctor Rosenthal who had treated her little brother.
Ianto stared at her retreating figure and tried not to think. Rhiannon was here. He didn't think he'd see her again. Ianto tried to sit up and found pain shooting through his shoulder. He remembered now.
The gun had misfired.
Why?
Ianto grimaced but managed to sit up, tried not to swallow into his too dry throat. Ianto looked at his hands a bit shocked to see how thin they looked. He didn't think he looked so bad. Jack hadn't said anything.
He knew he had been slipping up but…when was the last time he had cleaned his gun? Ianto couldn't remember. He couldn't remember a lot of things anymore as well as he used to. Most of the time he thought about the rats.
Where were the rats? Ianto wasn't feeling them right now. He looked at the IV in his arm. Something in there must be keeping his stomach's relentless gnawing away.
Ianto hear footsteps. He looked up. Rhiannon came in with a man, obviously a doctor.
"Mr. Jones, how are you feeling?" The smile on his face was false. The look in his eyes condescending.
Ianto missed Owen.
Ianto grimaced as he opened his mouth. "Doctor, his throat." Rhiannon managed to say for him. "I know Mrs. Davies, a nurse should be here soon to help with that. Let me try this again. Alright Mr. Jones, on a scale from one to five how do you feel?" Ianto gave him two fingers. The doctor nodded. The doctor wrote something down and then looked at him seriously.
-
Jack frowned as he saw the hospital. Ianto was in there somewhere. Was he alone? He parked (after the incident at the station Jack wouldn't put it past some of Swanson's boys to impound the SUV on a 'mistake'). He turned off the ignition and closed his eyes.
Ianto couldn't have tried to kill himself. His gun must have misfired as he was putting it away. His call to his sister was misinterpreted. Who was he kidding?
Jack couldn't lie to himself anymore. Rhiannon's call was real. Ianto's weapon had gone off twice. Ianto had tried to kill himself while he had most likely been shagging Gwen.
Jack tried not to think about this afternoon, about Ianto's thin and haggard face. He tried not to think about the dead look in his eyes after Gwen had walked in. He hadn't finished eating. Jack looked at the hospital.
He thought about how Ianto had felt a few nights ago as he slept and compared it to a few months ago. Ianto had lost too much weight. Jack wasn't blind. He just hadn't thought Ianto had lost that much weight.
The chocolate had stuck to Gwen's upper teeth as she smiled. It had stuck in the gap of her teeth before she wiped it away with a quick swipe of her tongue. Jack had taken a bit of the chocolate pastry and laughed as Gwen wiped the chocolate off 'discreetly'.
He hated those goddamn little pastries.
He had bought them for Ianto. Jack had gone out and bought Ianto's favorite lunches and one of his favorite desserts because he realized Ianto had grown too thin. He hadn't even offered his lover one once Gwen came into the room.
Jack turned on the SUV and drove away.
He couldn't face Ianto like this.
-
"I have an ulcer?" Ianto asked now that the water had quenched his parched throat. He wanted to guzzle the water but knew better. Dr. Rosenthal nodded. "So the rats were just an ulcer?" Ianto shook his head. "My last doctor didn't see one." He muttered.
"Mr. Jones, if your ulcer was stress induced it might have disappeared by your last check up." Dr. Rosenthal hesitated for a moment, looking at Rhiannon who was hovering near Ianto. Ianto nodded, a go ahead. "Your…food issues only aggravated it. Can I ask the last time you ate?"
"Yesterday." Ianto gave a bitter smile. "At least until it came up."
"Were you unable to keep it down or was it voluntary?" At least the doctor was direct.
"I was having lunch with Jack." Ianto said. "He left to be with Gwen and I couldn't eat anymore." Dr. Rosenthal seemed to understand and wrote something down. "I…don't get hungry. It was the same after Lisa died. I just don't get hungry. I try to eat but I can't stomach too much." He gave a haunted look. "Jack and Owen would make sure I would eat enough and Owen would give me a bit of medication if I couldn't keep it down."
"Who is Owen?"
"Owen Harper was our medic. He's dead." Ianto responded.
"I'm sorry." Dr. Rosenthal said, and he sounded honest. Ianto shook off his concern. "We can give you a bit of medication for your ulcer, it should make eating at least bearable when you're hungry. I don't want to force the issue." Dr. Rosenthal looked at them directly. "With the right therapy and help you can go back to a normal state Mr. Jones. I don't have all the facts but you and I know you're depressed."
He looked at Rhiannon. "We have a lot of options and we'll try to go over them in the next few days so that you have a clear idea as to what kind of treatment you want."
"Days?"
"You tried to kill yourself, Mr. Jones. We have to be assured that you won't harm yourself when you leave this hospital." Ianto nodded, he thought as much. He looked at Rhiannon and imagined her leaving. Unlike Jack she wanted him around.
"Could I leave with my sister?"
"Given the unusual circumstances surrounding your case, Mr. Jones that may be possible." Rhiannon smiled, relieved. She didn't want Harkness around her brother, if she could take him home for a few days they could move forward together.
Jack looked over the night sky. His face was only slightly wet. God, he was an idiot.
He was going to lose Ianto. He knew it was inevitable. Ianto must have suspected, known that he was with Gwen. Jack smiled bitterly. Ianto knew everything.
Of course then there was Gwen. Gwen wouldn't let go of Rhys. She wanted a normal life, children and the whole nine yards. Jack wouldn't offer her that. He could but he wouldn't.
He thought about having a child with Gwen Cooper and immediately thought of Alice. Gwen would leave with their child. Their romance was good while she was still young and beautiful but Jack knew she'd leave him for lesser reasons than Lucia. At least Lucia never claimed to love him.
Ianto was his choice between the two. He hadn't lied when he said he had come back for him. After 2000 years under the earth you think he'd have found an appreciation for him even more than he had but Ianto had faded while Jack had come back. He had drifted toward Gwen because she was still standing. It was easy to get lost in her, to indulge in what he had wanted but not allowed himself because he had chosen, wanted Ianto.
Ianto had faded because of him. Jack remembered screaming awake. He remembered lashing out at anything physically when it became too much. Ianto had taken everything and not asked for anything.
They both loved him. Without one he would sink.
Jack had stupidly chosen the wrong lifeline.
He could almost feel the dirt in the back of his throat.
