Chapter Four - OOTR
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" said Owen, turning to face Ianto. "I'm not a murderer!"
"I-I…Doctors...they called themselves doctors!" stammered the young Welshman.
Jack stood back, arms folded across his chest. He was right not to call his sister. He studied the younger man.
"What happened to you, Ianto?"
Ianto closed his eyes. "I-I can't…it was horrible!"
"We need to know, so we can help you," answered Jack.
Ianto looked at Owen. "Why would you even want to help me?"
"We're not your enemy," said the medic.
"They…experimented on us. I…was one of the lucky ones."
Owen scrubbed a hand over his face. "Experimented? How?"
"Our minds. Our blood." Ianto fixed his gaze on Jack. "They were aliens, experimenting on humans! I thought I was dreaming, but I wasn't, was I?"
Jack shook his head. "I'm not sure."
"They weren't green, like we're told when we're small," he said. "They had eyes on stalks and short stubby legs."
"Were they light blue with three fingers and two toes?" asked Jack.
"Yes. Do you know them? Silly," Ianto added, "How could you."
Jack nodded, much to everyone's surprise. "I've…met a few."
"Jack?" asked Owen.
Jack sighed. "Their planet is called Keot Delta 4. It was thought they kept themselves to themselves."
"Now we know why," said Owen.
"You said you were the lucky one, why?"
"I taught their young Welsh," he half smiled. "It kept me alive."
"Did they…"
He shook his head. "Time there goes so fast. It was like…I aged daily." He sighed. "A boy I was put with counted off the days since I arrived…42 in all."
"Bloody Nora!" exclaimed Owen.
"Explains why I never saw the same one twice.," said Jack.
Ianto frowned.
"I'll explain later," Jack told him.
"Jack!" said Tosh.
"Yeah?"
"I think you ought to see this."
Jack moved to Tosh's workstation.
"What have you got?"
Jack looked at the screen.
'MYSTERY MAN IN LONG COAT SAVES TODDLER'
The headlines screamed out from the screen.
"That's you, Jack."
"No!" Jack looked at Ianto, then back at the monitor. "It can't be," He read on.
'18 MONTH OLD IANTO JONES WAS SAVED FROM CERTAIN DEATH UNDER THE WHEELS OF A BUS WHEN HIS BUGGIE WAS KNOCKED INTO THE ROAD BY YOUTHS. A STRANGER IN A LONG COAT SAVED THE BOY THEN DISAPPEARED INTO A CROWD OF ONLOOKERS'
"He recognised the coat," said Jack. "That's why I could calm him."
"That's spooky," said Gwen.
Owen came up to stand beside Jack. "Explains a lot."
They all turned to look at Ianto.
"I didn't want any publicity, so I just moved on after I handed him back to his mother." Jack explained. "I'd forgotten all about it."
"Was this in Newport?" asked Gwen.
"No, Cardiff. Where the New Theatre is." Jack looked at the young man again, a smile curving his lips. "I should have recognised the name."
Ianto stood up off the couch and walked over to the railing above the autopsy bay. He looked down and shivered when he saw all the instruments Owen had put out for the autopsy he was going to perform later. His eyes drifted up, catching sight of Myfanwy, still perched on the gantry above Jack's office. He smiled. As if sensing his pleasure, the giant bird flew up into the heights of the Hub and squawked, landing in her lair.
"Contact his sister, Jack," said Tosh. "I think he might need her just about now."
Jack nodded in agreement.
TBC