Sorry about the delay uploading this chapter, I'd completely forgotten to do it...
As Gwen finished helping Ianto with breakfast Jack came back down. He had disappeared before Ianto had woken up, Owen had checked him and Gwen had brought food. The routine carried on as it had before. Ianto felt glad about that, it was comforting knowing what was coming, and even more so when he knew it wasn't going to hurt. Gwen gave Jack a long look before she left and Jack took her place in the cell, looking at Ianto's lowered head.
Jack crouched down in front of him. "Do you feel all right today, Ianto?"
"Yes, I'm fine Sir."
"Good. Ianto, I want to know…" Jack started, and did pause for a second as Ianto lifted his head up, registering that Jack was about to ask him something, and also, clearly noticing the absence of the lie detector.
"Ianto, from what you said about the kidnapping, why didn't you try to escape, when they first took you?"
There was a very pregnant pause. Ianto put his head down, the now clean and shiny strands of hair fell across his face. Jack felt an overwhelming urge to stroke them back, but he kept control of himself and waited.
"Because I thought it was you."
"What, you thought I was one of the men who…?"
"No, I thought you had sent them."
Jack's mind rolled back over what Ianto had said to him, in the previous conversations, and one thing stood out.
"They phoned 'the Boss', you thought that was me?"
Ianto nodded.
"Do you really think I would send people like that?" Jack asked, feeling a little shocked by Ianto's thought processes. Then again, no one could expect him to be entirely rational.
"I knew you'd be looking for me," Ianto said in a low tone, his voice dropping almost to a whisper as he added. "Because of what I did…"
Tensions were still running high in the hub. A week after they had destroyed Lisa. Jack hadn't given Ianto any time for grief. He had him back at work early the next morning. No one had really talked about what happened, but Jack wasn't fool enough to think that it would settle overnight. But Ianto could surely, no longer be fooled into thinking that his girlfriend had survived beyond Canary Wharf.
Ianto had been quiet, just doing his job, hardly speaking and not looking anyone in the eye. Everyone else was displaying their own levels of anger, Jack felt angry himself, but he understood how and why Ianto allowed himself to be fooled. Working for Torchwood was not an easy job. Jack had seen many a slip up before, and it often resulted in someone dying. At least this time it wasn't anyone he cared about, and the only person he felt really angry with was himself. For being so stupidly fooled by Ianto, who had allowed himself to be flirted with, and flirted back, when all the time, what Ianto was appeared to be nothing more than a façade.
Jack sat down and reached for the cup of coffee that was sitting on his desk. He didn't even bother to wonder where it had come from. It was such a considerate habit of Ianto's and Jack had more than enough paperwork to get through, so he sipped at the well made drink, and peered at the reports.
Half an hour or so later, Jack decided he was more exhausted than he thought. He had sent everyone else home, it had been a long few days, and he felt like he needed the peace, without the simmering feelings swirling around in the air. The words that he was writing blurred several times and he blinked to try and clear his vision. His hand was starting to cramp a little as well, and his feet felt oddly cold. Maybe another drink was in order. Jack turned, picked up the cup and tried to stand in what should have been one smooth gesture.
As he tried to stand up his legs cramped painfully and the cup slipped out of his hand to clank against the edge of the desk before tumbling over, spraying the remains of the coffee as the cup flipped over before smashing onto the floor.
"Woah!" Jack exclaimed as he fell back into the chair, pitching himself backwards so he could land safely. He blinked again as the world swirled around him, and the pain in his limbs eased as the stress removed. Jack very carefully flexed his hands, making sure he could move his fingers, and then he wiggled his toes. He suddenly realised, they seemed to be going numb.
"Problem, Sir?" Ianto asked appearing in the doorway. Jack turned his head, making his neck and then back start to throb with pain. He tried not to let it show.
"No, I'm fine, Ianto," Jack said, realising how thick his tongue felt in his mouth. "Just got up a little too quickly."
Ianto raised his eyebrows, Jack winced inwardly as he realised how that sounded, and he watched as Ianto peered at the broken mug, and splashes of coffee that lay on the floor.
"It's probably the drug taking effect," the young man observed casually, before producing, from behind his back, a dustpan and brush, as if he had expected the mess. With his usual calm efficiency Ianto crouched down to scoop up the shards of enamel. Jack's eyes widened and he tried to get up but his limbs were even less co-ordinated and as Ianto straightened up, he put Jack back down with a light shove to his shoulder. Jack landed with an inelegant thump, banging his head hard on the back of the chair. He almost lurched forward from the impact but Ianto carefully steadied him. Jack settled down again and looked up at him.
"Ianto, what have you done?" Jack demanded. Ianto smiled at him, very congenially, putting the dustpan on Jack's desk.
"It's quite an interesting one Sir, it affects the muscles and nervous system, in a very specific fashion. First the limbs, slowly, then it works internally, shutting down the organs. Heart and lungs last, Owen thinks, but that could be a toss up either way really." Ianto perched on the edge of the desk, close to him and looked at Jack intently. "One thing it doesn't touch though is the brain, at least not the conscious part of it, until your heart gives out, or you can't breath anymore, you'll feel all of it. I don't know if it's painful… is it?"
Jack glared at him, and he didn't answer. Ianto watched him curiously. Then he turned slightly and very carefully picked out one of the larger shards of enamel. Jack shifted in the chair, but the drug was taking too strong of a hold, he couldn't move, or at least not enough to have any effect against Ianto. He tensed as Ianto took his arm, turning it over to expose the inside of his wrist and forearm. Jack grunted through gritted teeth as Ianto ran the sharp enamel across the veins that ran just under his skin. Ianto cut hard but not too deep, but blood started to well from the wound. Jack felt his breathing started to deepen and his looked up at Ianto, who regarded the wound for a moment before putting Jack's hand back down on the arm of the chair, and he placed the shard of enamel on Jack's blotter. Jack could hear the drip, so loud in the silence, as his blood ran onto the floor, but the wound wouldn't kill him.
"Still have some feeling then," Ianto observed calmly. "Owen was going to test it on one of the lab rats, just to see what happened. I thought I'd save him the time."
Jack clamped his jaw to keep from saying anything. Instead he watched as Ianto produced a syringe.
"There is an antidote though," Ianto said. "Or at least it should be. It's effects vary, depending on how long the drug has been in your system, but as long as your heart and lungs are still working, I suppose you could make a recovery. If, of course, I bother to give it to you."
"What the hell are you doing this for?" Jack snarled, unable to keep silent any longer. Jack knew his own body, he knew it was starting to shut down. It had happened before, he had suffered slow deaths, he knew the sort of thing to expect and feel. Ianto didn't know that part, Jack didn't have to worry that much, unless Ianto decided to do something with his dead body.
"I thought on what I said, about having a chance to watch you suffer and die, and then I thought, when am I likely to get that chance, unless of course I make it myself. It wasn't guaranteed that I could make it happen, but first time lucky," Ianto said brightly. He straightened up again, pacing away from Jack. He stepped towards the stand where Jack's coat hung and ran his fingers down the sleeve, gently caressing the material. Jack snarled, annoyed and rather disgusted by that intimate touch to his prized possession.
"You are a bit of a creature of habit, Jack," Ianto observed, his eyes and hand still on the coat. "I figured the coffee was my best bet."
"And you really think this is the answer?" Jack forced himself to say, his body cramping painfully. He tried to make it work, tried to force some adrenaline to work in his favour. He felt the fingers of his right hand curl and started to concentrate on working the muscles of his forearm. But it wasn't going to be quick enough and he knew it. Ianto smirked as he watched what Jack was doing, he also knew it wasn't enough.
"Isn't it?" Ianto asked. He still had the syringe, Jack thought, there was still a hope that Ianto wouldn't take this all the way.
"So what's the plan? Kill me, then what?"
"Wait for the others, let them have a look at you first," Ianto said. Jack controlled the sigh of relief, if Ianto meant to leave him, then he could get back from this, hopefully before they got here, if not then he'd have back up when he did.
"And then what?" Jack asked. "What do you expect us to do with you?"
Ianto's face flickered, in such a way that Jack felt a gleam of hope that everything wasn't entirely lost. But then his mask fell back into place.
"I think it's only fitting to end it the way you ended Lisa. Lock you in, trap you down here like rats. I know the place well, very well, every little bolt hole," Ianto said. Jack eyed him carefully, he could resign himself to dying, Ianto telling him everything, really told him everything. Ianto was going to let him die, but he didn't know how complicated that was. Gwen knew, Owen now suspected, as probably did Toshiko. Lisa had tried to kill him with that electrical bolt, and they had all seen it. All of them, except Ianto, and that was Jack's only advantage.
He gritted his teeth to control the grunt of pain as Ianto took his damaged arm, holding his hand but also pressing his fingers into the wound on his arm. It made Jack focus, but Jack wanted to get the death over with and quickly. The sooner he died, the sooner he came back.
"I'll stay with you to the end, Jack," Ianto smiled, his eyes not entirely in focus, and gleaming with an edge of insanity.
I'll be waiting, Jack thought to himself, as he felt the first frantic shudders of his heart.
Jack took a breath, lurching up and tensing as he felt hands on him. He didn't react to them immediately, he couldn't. Poison did that to him, the effects still sat for the first few seconds as his body came to rights. If it was Ianto, Jack would try and play limp for a while but then he'd have to fight.
"Jack! Jack!"
Gwen's voice. He slumped back, he could allow his body a few more seconds.
"Jack, it's all right, just… calm down."
Confusion, Jack registered in his mind. She didn't know what had happened. Where was Ianto then? Jack thought. He wouldn't want to go far, he'd want to see her reaction. Actually he would have already seen it, he was dead when she got here, but then again, she wouldn't give a normal reaction to someone who was dead. Gwen knew him better, better than anyone.
He blinked and looked at her and grimaced as he smelt something he rather wished he hadn't.
"Oh, my chair is going to need to be cleaned, but I don't think I can use my usual guy."
"Jack?" Gwen asked, grimacing a little herself. "I brought you some stuff, clothes mainly, and I'll clean it… but what happened?"
"Have you seen Ianto?"
"On my way in, he went out saying he had run out of coffee and was going for some more, although he said he had set some up with what was left over. He looked a little better than usual, Jack, what's going on?"
"Long story, short version first though," Jack groaned, standing up, and then he snapped to attention. "You haven't drunk any have you?"
"No, I came in to ask you and found you… dead… how come Ianto…?"
"Because Ianto killed me, if he's just left then he thinks I'm still dead. Are the others here yet?"
"No."
"Right, call them now, and tell them to run down here like they are on fire. And tell Tosh that on the way in to instigate protocol 489 from the mainframe in the tourist office."
"Jack?"
"Ianto is going to expect you to bring them running, so let him watch it, tell them the truth if you have to, I'm gonna have the fastest shower in history and get dressed. Then we'll be ready for him, I don't doubt for one second that he'll come down personally to finish this off. These…" Jack added, frantically writing instructions, "… are the codes to prevent a lockdown on the lift, if that's all we have then at least we can get out."
"He's planning to lock us in here?" Gwen asked in shock.
"Like we did Lisa, now go!" Jack shouted.
They were ready. They had all done as they needed and three of them stood as reception committee for Ianto. He walked in, with a bag of ground coffee and smiled at them.
"Everything all right?" he asked pleasantly.
"Fine," a voice announced from behind him.
"Okay," Jack now said. "I see why you might have thought I was behind it, but if I'd found you, I'd have come personally. I do not use goons, I never have and never will. Not my style."
"I know, I just though and then… it wasn't you," Ianto said, sounding almost disappointed. Jack almost reached out for him, and then let his hand drop. Ianto had cringed back, and Jack knew why he was so frightened of contact. For months all he could expect was pain. That habit wasn't going to go with a few days care and careful talks.
"So how did you get away Ianto? After so long…"
"I waited, when I knew it wasn't you and… they asked me about Torchwood I knew I had to."
"You could have just betrayed us, your plan was to anyway."
Ianto's eyes lifted slightly, but didn't go too high. He looked down again, pulling back a little on the bed. Jack let him, he wasn't about to push too hard. After a pause Ianto said, very quietly.
"That was different."
