Chapter Four
Ianto jolted awake to the sound of his mobile ringing. Grunting he looked around, they'd fallen asleep. Jack still lay fast asleep in Ianto's arms, tear tracks dried on his cheeks. It had taken him nearly an hour to fall asleep. Ianto snapped awake enough to grab his mobile from his pocket. "'Lo?" He managed quietly.
"It's Owen, have you seen Tosh since last night?"
"No—Owen I think something's wrong with Jack."
"Do you want me to swing by?"
"He doesn't want to see you yet. I think I'm just going to leave him here today—I'll stay with him. It's probably for the best. Send Gwen over—I'll be in by later this afternoon."
"I'll call you when we get a hold of Tosh."
"Thanks, I'll call you if anything changes here." Ianto hung up the phone and curled back around his lover and allowed sleep to drag him back under.
Ianto awoke to the sound of sobbing and groaning. His legs were damp, something sticky and warm around his legs. Opening his eyes slowly, prying them open he grimaced, exhaustion hit his body hard. Jack was curled on his side, crying loudly, clutching his stomach. "Jack!?" Ianto grabbed the blankets and threw them back, his eyes growing wide.
Blood surrounded his lower body, Jack's arms wrapped around his stomach, bruised and swollen. "Oh God!" sobbed Ianto as he tried to reach out to touch his lover. Jack, however, wouldn't let him touch him. He continued to sob loudly.
Ianto scrambled, his hands now covered in blood from Jack. Grabbing the mobile he felt bile rising in his throat. "Hold on Jack." The phone pressed between his shoulder and ear, he was desperately trying not to panic. "Owen! Help us! Jack's bleeding from his rectum. I think he's having a miscarriage."
"I'm on my way!"
Ianto dropped his phone, and hurried into the bathroom, grabbing a towel, pressing it to Jack, hoping to stop any blood that was still gushing. He reached out and ran his hand through Jack's silky, sweat dampened hair. "Hold on Jack, just hold on, I'm here." He pressed his lips to Jack's hand, tears mingling with Jack's sweat.
"It hurts Yan! Help me! Oh God he's dead." Sobbed Jack.
Ianto struggled to hold Jack in his arms. "It's okay, I know Jack, its okay. We'll get through this. Hold on Jack, just hold on."
"The baby!"
Jack's head was pressed into his shoulder, he held Jack close, kissing his forehead, trying to keep him focused. "Stay with me Jack."
"I'm sorry—" cried Jack, his voice getting weak. "I'm sorry…"
"No, please, don't—don't die!"
Jack reached out, hand shaking as he pressed the bloodied hand to Ianto's cheek. "Please—cold, hold me." He sobbed.
"I'm holding you."
"Our baby." suddenly he went lax. Everything faded away, Jack's head lulled to the side, and his breathing stopped. Ianto sobbed, rocking the body back and forth in his arms. Sobbing over the body of his lover and his dead child."
o0o
Jack awoke feeling so hot. Looking around he gasped at the sight of Ianto in his arms, unconscious drenched in sweat, shaking. "Ianto?" He gently shook his lover, trying to wake the man.
"Damn!" Jack dipped his hand into Ianto's pocket and pulled out the mobile, quickly dialing the hub. He pressed his hand to Ianto's forehead, stunned at the feeling of heat radiating off the younger man.
Jack felt marginally better, though he still felt a little woozy. "Owen, it's Jack—Ianto's running a fever, same symptoms as Martha."
"And Tosh."
"What?"
"We found Tosh in her flat, she's running a high fever, and seems to be in a heavy dream state. I'll come and we'll bring him to the hub. I want you to stay too."
"All right, should I try to wake him up."
"He probably won't wake, but you can certainly try."
"Okay, let me know when you're at the door."
o0o
Owen, Jack and Gwen sat in the conference room; they'd turned the small spare room Jack had stayed in when he'd been dying of the radiation, to house their three sick patients. Gwen was looking exhausted, dark circles rimmed her eyes and her skin was paler than normal.
Jack, on the other hand, was pasty, sweat doted his forehead. He didn't look tired, he just looked like he was in pain. Jack took a slow deep breath and glanced up at Owen. "So what have we got?"
Owen pulled up the screen. "Melatonin is a hormone that when enough of it is released people fall asleep. It's a perfectly normal hormone and it's required to get into the REM cycle. Now, for some reason Martha, Tosh, Ianto and even Gwen are all showing remarkably high levels of melatonin, which is part of the reason why you've all been so exhausted."
"What would cause a rise in melatonin?" questioned Gwen. "And why hasn't Jack been affected?"
Owen paused for a moment. "That's the problem, I don't understand why. But for some reason Jack and I remain the only people unaffected, now naturally I'm unaffected because I'm dead. But I'm not so sure about Jack."
"He's immortal, does that have anything to do with it?"
Owen shook his head. "No, because Ianto is too and he's having the exact same reactions as the other three."
"So you're telling us that if things continue to progress the way they are now, that Gwen will be next?"
"More than likely." Owen replied sadly.
"All right, how do we stop this?" Questioned Jack.
"I honestly don't know, I'd love to be able to answer that, but unfortunately I don't even know what's causing it. Until I can figure that part out—there's no way of knowing. However, for safety purposes Gwen, perhaps you should stay here tonight; we can monitor you and make sure nothing goes wrong. Jack I'd also like to keep you here, you've been showing signs of pain, and it may be nothing, but I want you where I can keep an eye on you."
"If you wanted to have sex Owen, all you had to do was ask."
"Are we sure this hasn't spread outside these walls?" Jack asked suddenly concerned.
Owen shook his head. "No, we've encased it in this area, as far as I can tell there's no reason why anyone outside would have gotten sick. All we can do now is keep everyone comfortable and watch them."
o0o
Gwen felt her heart race as she ran through the streets of Cardiff, looking around. Everyone was gone. Dead or dying in the streets. "Where's Rhys!?" She sobbed. "We were supposed to meet here? What's happened?"
"You've killed him."
Gwen whirled around to see Ianto standing there.
"Killed who?" She questioned, blanching.
"You killed him! Why can't you just listen! Just once trust Jack! You couldn't trust him! You always have to defy him! Why!? Why can't you trust him!? You've killed him! You killed him!"
She ran towards him. "Killed who Ianto?"
"Both of them—ruin your own life Gwen, but you have no right to ruin mine!"
"Ianto, where's Jack? Where is he!? Where's Rhys!?"
"They're dead! All because you couldn't leave well enough alone! When are you going to learn he knows best? He's our leader! Our boss and you killed him!"
She shook her head. "He can't die Ianto—"
"You found a way! The one way he couldn't survive, and you did it! This plague! He knew who the Daleks were! Understood who they were and that they'd bring down the world! Why don't you pay attention! They helped bring down Torchwood One! I've lost the only two people I've ever loved to Torchwood and it's all your fault! Our future!"
"Ianto, I don't understand? What happened? What's happened? Please speak to me!?"
"They came! Just like Jack said they would, only we weren't ready! He told us if we didn't get ready they'd destroy us, and instead of listening to him we went about our daily job! We lost them all! Why couldn't you just do your job! Just follow instructions given to you, be where you're supposed to be!"
"I don't even understand what you're talking about!? What came? Who came and destroyed what?"
"They came, they all came and—" Suddenly Ianto let out a horrific scream and seconds later his body collapsed to the ground, dead.
Gwen's eyes grew wide in surprise at the sight of what appeared to be a very large pepper pot of some sort. "I--Please, whatever you've done—"
"Exterminate!"