TOUCHING THE VOID: PART NINE
Jack was wrenched back into the world of the living by the sounds of Ianto screaming and then swearing. He hauled in a breath and lurched upright only to be met with resistance as a pair of strong hands held him down.
"Take it easy Jack, you're ok." It was Jonsey and Jack locked on to startling blue eyes with a jolt of shock.
"Ianto?"
The hands were lifted away. "No, Owen is seeing to him now." As if to reaffirm the fact he heard Ianto cry out again, he was as much angry as in pain, by the sound of it. Jack closed his eyes for a moment realising he was laying on the tarmac, the SUV looming above him.
"Shit, what happened?" He looked up and Jonsey was still there, silhouetted against the backdrop of a grey sky. Jonsey was shaking his head.
"Not sure. Owen just grabbed me and brought me here, we found you both laying either side of the truck. Here...." A hand was reached down and Jack grabbed it, hauling himself to his feet. His body protested with intense aching and he was light headed.
"Shit."
Jonsey stepped back to give him some space, but Jack turned looking for Ianto. He saw Owen bent over Ianto who was still on the ground, his face brilliant red and scrunched up as he bit back another yell of pain. Jack was there in an instant stepping round to get to Ianto, who didn't appear to notice.
"Owen?"
Owen was too busy to look up. "Give me a minute Jack. You need to get that corpse contained."
Jack looked to where Owen briefly pointed. The remains of the Sylinx lay smouldering a few metres away. Ianto must've managed to take it down then. Jack shook his head trying to remember what had happened. He rose to his feet again and went round to the back of the SUV. Jonsey took his place at Ianto's side and helped Owen. Ianto was silent by now, the heavy dose of painkiller having taken effect; he gazed at Owen who was working steadily with cutting away at burnt clothes that had melted into his skin, in an effort to get a look at the damage. Jonsey grasped Ianto's trembling hand and they locked gazes.
"You're going to be ok." Jonsey assured him feeling slightly unnerved by the whole thing of comforting his other self. Ianto nodded biting down on his scorched lower lip as Owen continued to work.
"Ok, mate. I am going to have to move you now. I'm sorry but it's probably gonna hurt, but I need to get you back to the Hub and into a sterile environment."
Owen kept his voice calm and matter of fact. Ianto's eyes searched out his. "Is Jack ok?" His voice was ragged and faint.
"Yep, he's ok. Just cleaning up." Owen was spreading a thermo cover over Ianto who was starting shiver with the shock. He glanced up at Jonsey.
"There's a spinal board in the back of the SUV, can you get it for me?"
Jonsey went off, glad for an excuse to move away. Jack had obviously heard because he passed the stretcher kit to him the moment he got there. Jonsey caught the look of devastation on Jack's face, but the older man quickly covered it by closing down the tailgate and going to the back passenger door to clear the seats for transporting Ianto back to the Hub. Ianto watched through the haze of morphine as Owen and Jonsey assembled the stretcher. Jack was called over to help.
"Jack, me and Jonsey are going to roll Ianto and you're going to slide the board under him. Ok?"
Jack nodded and the three of them quickly got him moved on to the stretcher. Ianto did his level best not to cry out and failed, every inch of him felt like he was on fire. Tears rolled over charred cheeks and stung where the open burns had already started to dry out and crack on his skin. Ianto was fully expecting to die right about then and his eyes moved about the blur trying to anchor on to something comforting. Suddenly he felt movement and he moaned with startlement.
"Easy guys, try not to jostle him too much." Owen's acerbic London accent was commanding and comforting at the same time. Ianto knew he'd be safe if not sorted.
"Jack?"
A shadow came into view.
"Hey, right here."
Ianto had never been more pleased to hear his voice.
"Did I get it? Is it dead?"
Something gently squeezed his hand. "Yeah, you did good Ianto.... you did good......" Ianto lost consciousness.
"Shit, Jack we need to get back to the Hub, pronto."
Jack was already keying the ignition and Jonsey was belting himself into the front passenger seat. Owen stayed with Ianto in the back, barely able to move because of the lack of room.
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When they got back to the Hub Jack dealt with the dead Sylinx and Owen and Jonsey took Ianto down to the autopsy bay. Cockney was waiting for them, having already set up to receive the patient. Gwen and Tosh gathered on the gallery level and Jonsey joined them as soon as they'd settled the unconscious Welshman on to exam table. Owen did not like having an audience as he worked.
"Everyone out and let me get on. He'll be fine, now piss off."
Gwen and Jonsey left straight away but Toshiko hung back for a moment.
"Owen?"
The medic paused, looking up he grinned at her. "He'll be fine Tosh."
Satisfied she headed back to her terminal and continued with her work on the clean up. Gwen and Jonsey sat on the couch.
"Do you know what happened?" Gwen asked.
Jonsey shook his head. "No. I think it must have killed Jack first. Ianto seemed more worried about him than he was himself."
Jack strode in from the vaults and made his way to the medical bay, coming down the stairs two at a time. Owen pre empted his question.
"He's got first degree burns over most of his body and two areas where it's considerably worse on his arms, where I'm guessing he tried to shield his eyes. It's widespread and painful, but not life threatening."
Jack had moved to the head of the table and gently fussed with Ianto's singed hair. "His eyes?"
"Undamaged, it's like a bad case of sunburn, except his arms and the patch on the left side of his face. He was lucky he was wearing a woollen suit, there's just an area here where fabric and skin have melded together, that'll need surgery, obviously." Owen was still cutting away at Ianto's clothing and Cockney said nothing as Owen handed him pieces of ruined cloth to stuff into a bin liner.
"He's gonna be pissed about the suit." Jack commented absently.
Owen hesitated for a moment and looked into Jack's face, he half wondered if his boss was about to go into shock as well.
"Jack?"
Jack smiled. "How long before he wakes?"
Owen shrugged and went back to cutting. "The longer the better, poor bastards gonna be in agony for a few days."
"What about the radiation?"
"It's dissipated already. I've never seen anything like it. Was it some kind of concentrated energy weapon?"
Jack shook his head, still looking down at Ianto's peaceful if pink face. "Not as such, it's a natural defence mechanism, like venom is to a snake. Not sure how it works mind. He will be ok, won't he?"
"Yep, like I said, very sore and the burns on his arms will take a while to heal, there'll be some scarring from those. Do I want to know how some manky space lizard got the better of you two?"
Jack chuckled. "It got me first, took me straight out, I'm guessing Ianto only got half the.... whatever it uses..... Otherwise he would be dead now." The smile dropped from his face and he looked back down realising that there was now a frown across the younger man's face. A moan escaped Ianto's lips and his eyes hesitantly blinked open.
"Oh..... God, that hurts."
Owen put down his scissors and Cockney took that as his cue to get out of the way, he really didn't want to be in there anyway. Ianto blinked again, the tiles on the ceiling finally becoming still in his vision. It took him some moments to remember where he was.
"Owen?"
"Here mate. Need some more pain meds?"
"God, yes. Is Jack OK? That thing got him, he was.... is he ok?"
He felt fingers carding through his hair, massaging his aching head. "I'm fine and I'm right here."
Ianto was relieved and he smiled as another dose of morphine flooded through his veins. "Uhm.. That's nice." His eyelids shuttered down again. Jack remained there fussing as Owen continued to work.
"I'll need to call UNIT and get him transferred to their burns team that left cheek will need some specialist treatment." He paused glancing up at Jack, who was gazing down at Ianto's face. "He'll be fine Jack, really."
Jack nodded. "Yeah, ok. Do your thing and keep me posted." Reluctantly he stepped back and left the autopsy bay.
Gwen, Tosh and their two visitors were looking at him expectantly. Jack shrugged off his damaged coat, inspecting it before draping it over Gwen's vacant chair.
"Owen says he's gonna be alright. Tosh we'll need to open up a new file for the species database, I'd ask Ianto to do it but I don't think he'll be up to much over the next few days."
Tosh nodded. "Shall I carry on researching into the dimension thing?"
Jack nodded knowing it would do no good. "Yeah, sure. Gwen I'd like you to start organising new identities for our guests. Ianto can check everything over once you're done, as you've not done it before." Gwen nodded, pleased to have something new to do.
"No problem Jack, I can reference from Ianto's folders?"
Jack nodded. "The database is set up in the shared folders on the 'P' drive, Tosh has the password."
The women set to work and Jack turned to face Cockney and Jonsey. "Would you two join me in my office?" He gestured to the door and they moved ahead of him up the steps, Jack was nursing a blossoming post resurrection headache by the time he was sat at his desk.
Jonsey and Cockney stood there, both of them feeling vaguely uncomfortable.
"Guys, sit down."
Jonsey took the couch and Cockney took the chair. Jack looked from one man to the other, they were both looking considerably healthier than they had done a couple of days ago, though Jonsey carried an air of defeat about him that reminded Jack of how Ianto had been after Lisa's death. He leant back in his chair.
"I just wanted to say thanks for helping out today; it is appreciated."
Cockney was grinning. "Does that mean I still get my passport to Australia?"
Jack arched his eyebrows and smiled. "If that is where you want to go. I'm sure you both understand why you can't remain here."
Jonsey sighed. "I don't see the issue and quite frankly I do not want to be packed off like some piece of excess baggage. I want to go home."
Jack met his steely look with an equally hard one of his own. "We're working on it, but like I said to you before......"
"You have a vortex manipulator. You can use that."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "No, I can't, it doesn't work beyond a few basic functions and even if I could open up a dimensional breach, there is no way to be sure that you'd up where you came from. What's your plan; spend the rest of your life dimension jumping until you happen upon the right one?"
"If that is what it takes."
Jack sucked in a fortifying breath and pinched the bridge of his nose; the headache was really starting to piss him off.
"Is he worth that much? Is your Jack worth wasting your entire life on a fool's errand, because that is what it is?"
Jonsey shook his head in disgust. "Just because you don't a give shit about Ianto, don't think for one........."
Jack sat upright. "Excuse me?"
Cockney sighed, really not wanting to be dragged into an argument, without a further ado he got up and left the office, closing the door behind him. Jonsey followed him with his gaze and waited for the door to click shut.
"You heard. Well I am not him and you are not my Jack. If I end up spending eternity searching I would do it."
"He sent you away to keep you safe, surely you owe him the decency to make the most of the life he has given to you, wouldn't that be a better way of showing him how much you feel?"
Jonsey snorted. "I'm going back for him; I will do whatever it takes."
Jack's gaze went back to the photo on his desk of the Doctor and Rose recalling how he had waited more than a hundred years to see them again, only to be disappointed. Finally he looked back at the young man sitting on the couch, the one who looked like Ianto and yet was so unlike him in appearance, it occur just how similar their two personalities actually were. That fierce love, loyalty and the selfless determination to put things right even at the risk of losing themselves completely in the struggle. Jack recognised the emptiness that swelled like an ocean in those beautiful eyes, Ianto's eyes. It was still there some days and it made Jack shudder to think that he was in part responsible for it.
"There is no going back, the sooner you accept that, the sooner you can move on. We will keep working on it, but it won't be top on our list of priorities."
"So let me stay and help."
Jack shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."
Jonsey glowered at him, he'd find a way and this Jack Harkness was not about to stop him.
