CHAPTER TEN
Bidziil tried to reassure him that the food wasn't drugged, but Ianto ignored him, pretending to read. After yesterday's little trick, Ianto wasn't too keen on being drugged again.
"Ianto." Bidziil was exasperated. "You cannot do this to yourself. Think of your baby."
"I am thinking of my baby," he finally said. He closed his book and glowered at Bidziil through the bars. "I can't protect my baby if I'm unconscious, so I won't be touching any of that shit you give me."
"I didn't know it was drugged, I promise. Ichtaca did it, that's why I snapped at her."
"Why should I trust you? Why should I trust any of you?"
"Because I honestly care about your welfare." Bidziil sighed. "Do you know why I was chosen as your caregiver?"
"Does it look like I care?" Ianto muttered.
"It wasn't by accident. I'm one of many healers for the Yamni. A doctor, to use a human term, and I was chosen by the Yamni leaders to join this team. Before I was given my orders, I used to take care of others, treated their illnesses, their pains, and if there's one thing I have learned during this trip to earth, it's that no matter the species, a healer's goal remains the same. We heal and protect, not hurt and kill." He nodded at the tray. "I promise this isn't tampered with."
Ianto didn't want to trust him. Common sense told him not to trust him. But while Ianto could have tried to outlast the temptation for food, he couldn't do it while pregnant. The constant twinges of pain were worrying him as he remembered the pain he had felt a few months ago when his body had tried to force a miscarriage. Now the aches of pain were an indication that he needed to relax to prevent premature labour, but not eating properly would just as likely have negative consequences.
Reluctantly, he slid out of bed and grabbed the tray. Seemingly satisfied, Bidziil walked to his workstation while Ianto took his tray to the desk. He eyed it for several seconds before he warily took a few bites, then he waited for the drug to take effect. After five minutes in which nothing happened, he took a few more bites before taking another pause to see if he would get sleepy. He followed the same pattern throughout his meal, which lasted a lot longer than usual.
When he was done, he returned the tray back to the little opening in between the bars. "Why did she drug me?"
Bidziil looked up from the folder he was writing in. "She wanted a closer look at your body."
"She could've just come in and asked."
Bidziil smiled at Ianto's sweet tone. "She doesn't want to hurt you, so she would rather have you sedated so she can examine you rather than risk hurting you when you fight back." His smile vanished. "But her intelligence makes her arrogant. She thinks she knows everything. She could've easily killed you by giving you too much of the sedative."
"Well, that's comforting," Ianto managed to say, turning away from the bars slightly as Bidziil's words ignited a tendril of fear. Since his kidnapping, he has been worried, angry, wary, and determined, but learning that he could have died last night made him just a little afraid for his life. He couldn't let the fear grow, though. Fear wouldn't help him. Instead, he channelled the fear to strengthen his determination to find a way out.
He turned back to the bars. "You and she don't get along, I gather."
Bidziil gave a derisive snort. "That's being generous."
Ianto chewed on that. This could be promising. "Is it because of her arrogance?"
"It's because I disapprove of her methods. Manipulation and fear. I also wish for the Yamni race to survive, but not like this. Not by forcing male humans to endure pregnancies without knowing why or how. It's revolting."
"Do the others feel the same way?" Ianto asked casually.
"Doubt it. They're all scientists; they look at humans as subjects, not people."
So that only left Bidziil. This worked well in Ianto's favour. Ianto's plan to escape involved tapping into Bidziil's compassion, make him think that he had earned Ianto's trust so Ianto could ask him for help to escape. The odds would be against him, with only Bidziil at his side when several other aliens roamed the spaceship, but Ianto was betting that they wouldn't hurt him, not when he was carrying their future inside of him.
Ianto winced at another sharp pain at his side, the slight movement catching Bidziil's eye. "Are you all right?"
"Nothing, I just felt—" The sharp pain returned, lingering enough to make him bend over.
"I was afraid of this." Ianto heard Bidziil speak through a haze of pain, and he was suddenly there, helping Ianto back into bed. Ianto took shallow breaths, seeing Bidziil hovering over him with one hand on his stomach. It was glowing gold in much the same way their eyes glowed.
"What is it? Why does it hurt? Is the baby coming already?"
Before Bidziil could answer any of his questions, the section of the wall slid open to admit Ichtaca, who quickly strode to a large opening in the bars. Ianto stared at the opening as it occurred to him that Bidziil was inside the cell with him.
Ianto groaned and let his head fall back, the newfound knowledge temporarily put to the backburner as he endured the pain.
"What's wrong?" Ichtaca demanded. "Is it time?"
Bidziil took a long moment to answer. Then he shook his head. "No. I believe this is another result of his high blood pressure." He suddenly scowled at her. "Which isn't helped by your presence."
She scowled in return. "This is my experiment—"
"And this is my patient." Bidziil turned back to Ianto. "I'm going to soothe the pain a bit, okay?"
The pain slowly faded to a dull ache before it vanished completely. Ianto took a deep breath. Ianto's eyes strayed back to the opening in the bars, which was about the size of a door. His survival instincts told him to take this chance and run. Another instinct, one Ianto recognized as his paternal instinct, told him to stay. He wouldn't make it to the doorway, not with Ichtaca standing right there. Ianto couldn't trust her not to freeze him or something to prevent him from running.
If he remained where he was, it might also implant a seedling of trust in Bidziil.
"There we are," Bidziil murmured. "All is well. We really need to lower your blood pressure. That may lead to other complications besides premature labour."
When Bidziil stood, Ianto looked away, not moving a muscle. He heard their steps moving away from his bed, and when he turned back, the doorway in the bars was gone. He heard Bidziil and Ichtaca begin to argue, but Ianto tuned them out, placing his hands on his stomach. "Not yet, baby," he whispered. "Your dad needs to find a way back home first, okay?"
Ianto closed his eyes, hoping that Jack was doing his own part in bringing them home.
Jack stood on the roof, watching the nightlife of Cardiff come to life down below in the streets before him. They were like ants from his high position, the men and women bustling down the pavements, shopping and dining.
He took in a deep breath of fresh air, tilting his head back to stare at the few stars visible through the mostly cloudy sky.
Ianto was up there somewhere, and Jack was stuck down here, standing on a rooftop because had Gwen kicked him out of the hub.
In hindsight, perhaps she had done the right thing. It has been a week since Ianto's kidnapping, and so far they have failed to find any glimpse of a life form or spaceship on the moons of the four planets. It was a tedious task, observing every inch of the moons' surface, yet one he felt was necessary so he would miss nothing, but the task was hampered by the need to check out rift alerts and the need for sleep. Jack has kept his duty to watch over the rift and whatever it has spit out, but he has avoided sleep in order to spend time on his laptop so he could try to locate the Yamni's spaceship.
His lack of sleep, his frustration of accomplishing nothing, and the pressure to find Ianto before he was taken out of their solar system had made him irritable, snappish, and at times even unnecessarily harsh with the others for not working fast enough, for not spending enough time looking. Gwen had taken it upon herself to kick him out, ordering him to get his act together and come back when he was in a much better mood. He had left not because he was following her orders, but because his urge to violently shove her aside so he could go back inside the hub told him that he needed to get out.
Jack thought about contacting the Doctor, but doing so didn't guarantee that the Doctor would arrive in time, or if he would even help at all. It would kill Jack for the Doctor to arrive only to tell him that Ianto's kidnapping was meant to happen, that they couldn't mess with the timeline, and knowing the Doctor, Jack would've been kept in the dark about what happened to his lover and child. That wouldn't have stopped Jack from trying to find them, but he would've had a much harder time finding them with the Doctor blocking his attempts or making him feel guilty about possibly creating a paradox.
Letting out a frustrated grunt, Jack turned around and left the roof. He was still too agitated to return to the hub, so he opted to go home. He really hasn't ventured there as of late, but maybe going home would give him some much needed comfort.
The first thing Jack saw when the lift dropped him off on the top floor was a big brown box sitting in front of his flat's door. Frowning, Jack cautiously approached it, not remembering ordering anything that warranted a delivery. He looked at the receiver—Ianto Jones—before looking at the sender's name pasted on the left corner of the box. It was a baby shop. It must be something Ianto decided to buy for their baby.
He unlocked the door and pushed it open, letting it swing wide so he could use his foot to push the box forward. Once it was inside, he shut the door behind him and continued to push the box until it sat in the living room. Taking off his coat and tossing it onto the couch, he sat down and used his keys to rip the packaging tape. Once he got the flaps opened, he peered inside to see pieces packaged inside clear plastic bags. He took them out one piece at a time, seeing what almost looked like a folded blanket, a few fake animals, and long soft poles. Jack eventually found the instructions buried at the bottom, and he realized it was a baby gym. Ianto had wanted one of these for the baby, something for Salted Peanut to amuse himself with when his fathers were too tired to play with him.
Jack opened the instructions and laid it flat on the floor. Then he got to work.
Twenty minutes later, the baby gym was fully assembled. There was a large picture of a jungle in the blanket while the little lions, owls, and bears hung from hooks that were attached to the crossed poles. The ends of the poles were tied to four hooks made of fabric that were located at the corners of the blanket. The gym was perfect for the baby to play with.
Impulsively, he lay down on the floor and wiggled until his head was under the hanging animals. He lifted a hand to play with them, flicking them with his fingers. Something rattled, and when he flicked another animal, a musical sound greeted his ear. Jack chuckled.
Salted Peanut was going to enjoy this.
Jack amused himself for a little bit before he rested his hands on his stomach and closed his eyes, taking a moment to concentrate on his little family, and he didn't mean his Torchwood family. While Gwen, Terry, Nia, Ianto, and any other Torchwood operatives coming his way would be enfolded into the Torchwood family, Jack's personal family was narrowed down to Ianto and the baby. He hadn't planned it that way, hadn't planned to get attached at all. Working for Torchwood and being an immortal had taught him that attachments would only end in heartbreak.
The problem was that despite logic telling him to keep a distance, to stick with one-night stands or gropes in the darkness of alleys, his emotions tended to take a life of their own, always making him fall in love when he shouldn't.
He tilted his head to look out the windows to view the stars, hoping that wherever Ianto was, he would be strong enough to wait just a little longer.
Ianto watched Bidziil at his workstation. Ianto had asked him a couple of days earlier what exactly he was doing, and apparently Bidziil was logging in every little twitch the baby made, and every little blip that came out of the audio feed from the desks (which Ianto now suspected were some kind of alien keyboards with speakers). It was an intensive study, Bidziil had answered.
Ianto wished this "intensive study" could stop the twinges of pain that have occurred daily in the past week. Bidziil assured him that the sac wasn't disintegrating, but Ianto knew that the twinges were related to his blood pressure, which refused to go down. It seemed to go higher the longer he was on the spaceship, and Ianto worried that the twinges were a warning that the birth was going to happen sooner than any of them wanted. If his suspicions were true, that meant Ianto was running out of time. He needed to contact Torchwood before his time was up, otherwise he and his baby would be stuck as breeding slaves for the rest of their lives.
Bidziil was looking at a hologram intently, absently making notes in a folder. He seemed to genuinely care, as worried about the painful spasms as Ianto was. Ianto had wanted to cement a friendship between them, one that was strong enough for Bidziil not to deny Ianto's request for help, but it looked like he would have to ask for help now, and he hoped that Bidziil held enough compassion to aid him. Surely Bidziil would realize that being inside a cell, no matter how lavish it was, wasn't where Ianto belonged.
Ianto rubbed his stomach as he took in his attire. He wore sweatpants, a loose shirt, and a pair of thick socks that adorned his feet. Not exactly what he wanted to wear during his escape, but at least it let him move freely. It would have to do.
He lifted his chin high and loudly said, "I don't belong in here." Bidziil didn't look up, but his body visibly froze. Ianto pressed his point. "I don't belong in here and you know it."
Bidziil glanced at him, but just as quickly looked away. "Are you hungry?"
"Don't try to change the subject. You and I both know why my blood pressure isn't going down. I can try to relax as hard as I can, but so long as I'm in here, in this spaceship, I'll never be able to relax."
The alien looked back down. "There are always several factors—"
"Lay off it, Bidziil." Ianto clasped his hands together and placed them on his stomach. He kept his voice strong and steady. "You know I shouldn't be here. I had high blood pressure before I came here because I was stressed and worried about the Yamni and now actually being here, imprisoned and away from my home, only serve to keep my blood pressure high. How else do you explain these sharp pains? I didn't have them on earth."
Bidziil looked at him with guilt in his purple eyes. "I'm doing my best to ensure a safe pregnancy."
"No, you're not, because the best thing to ensure a safe pregnancy is for me to go back home where I have friends, a family." Ianto took a moment for the alien to absorb what he said before he continued. "You don't even approve of the whole experiment. You've seen how unhappy I'm here. The very idea that I will be separated from my child—" The hitch in Ianto's voice was very much real. He cleared his throat. "The very idea that I'll never see my baby after he's born hurts. I won't survive it."
Ianto stayed silent until Bidziil lifted his head to look at him again. If he wasn't mistaken, Ianto thought he could see Bidziil's eyes soften, a glint of acknowledgment that Ianto's words were the truth, but Ianto's words hadn't won him over just yet. "Even if I helped you, we wouldn't get far. Ichtaca is obsessed with this experiment. She won't let you go and she'll kill me."
"Let me contact my friends. If I can contact them, they'll help. Just help me leave the cell so I can do it, and then I'll come back, and we'll pretend that nothing happened." When Bidziil said nothing, Ianto pleaded with him. "You said you were sad that you would never have children. Don't help her take mine."
He was breaking down, Ianto could see it. There was conflict in Bidziil's eyes, his gaze straying to the hologram of the baby. Ianto held his breath, waiting for it, waiting for Bidziil to finally give in.
Except that Ichtaca chose that moment to enter. They both glanced at her automatically, but when they turned back to look at each other, Ianto slumped against the pillows when he saw the apologetic look in Bidziil's eyes. He wasn't going to help.
"How's our patient?"
Ichtaca sounded absolutely chipper. Ianto glowered at her.
"Nothing has changed. The baby is healthy, and Ianto will be healthy once we manage to lower his blood pressure somehow."
Ianto held back a snort. Going home would lower it, and they both knew it. Ichtaca probably knew it as well; she just didn't want to let her precious experiment slip through her fingers. If it was up to her, she would've given him a drug or two in order to force his blood pressure to go down. She had suggested it not too long ago, but Bidziil had rejected that suggestion, telling her that the only drugs available to them were of the alien kind and they could harm the baby.
Ichtaca approached the bars. "At least you're resting comfortably."
"No thanks to you," Ianto snapped. He shifted again, but grunted when he failed to find any kind of position that would ease the ache in his back. He hated this. Whenever his back had ached, Jack had made him lie on his side so he could massage it. Ianto missed those hands easing the tensed muscles, soothing him until he fell asleep.
"I suggest you find a way to control that temper. It does little to help your blood pressure."
Ianto continued to glower at her. When she left, he made sure to glower at Bidziil, who looked away, ashamed. Good. The bastard should feel ashamed.
Ianto reviewed his options. Plan A was obviously a failure. That only meant one thing.
It was time for Plan B.
Ianto had to wait a day or so before Plan B could be executed. It wasn't foolproof, not when it involved leaving the room and wandering around a spaceship by himself, but Ianto couldn't wait any longer.
When Bidziil left to take a break, Ichtaca bounced into the room to check on him. She always did that, finding any chance she got to come into the room and examine him, particularly when Bidziil wasn't there. Their priorities were the same, but their reasons behind them clashed, causing friction between them when they couldn't agree.
Ianto fingered the fake flowers that were in the vase sitting on the desk. He glanced over his shoulder at her as she examined the information left behind by Bidziil. He returned his gaze to the vase. It was thick glass, a perfect weapon, and he just needed Ichtaca to come into the cell.
And if there was one thing he noticed over the past week it was that every time Ianto felt severe pain, Bidziil and Ichtaca would create the doorway in the bars and come inside to make sure he was okay.
So he bent over and let out a false cry, clutching at his stomach. He only had to wait a few seconds before Ichtaca was there, grabbing his shoulder. "Get into bed and I'll—"
Ianto didn't let her finish. He grabbed the vase, swung his arm, and shattered the vase against Ichtaca's head. She collapsed into a heap on the floor.
For a moment, Ianto stared at the still body. He couldn't believe it had worked. Half of him hadn't expected it to.
He shook himself out of his surprised state and walked around her body. The doorway was still there, obviously unaffected by Ichtaca's unconsciousness—or death. Ianto hoped it was the latter.
He left his cell and approached the sliding section of wall that he often saw Ichtaca and Bidziil use to come and go, and if he remembered correctly, they used their hands to open it. There was no visible hand scanner or anything similar that would scan his hand to make the wall slide open, but there was a tiny circle embedded in the wall that shone a light red colour. He placed his hand over the red light, and the wall slid open. He peeked out and saw a long hallway before him. He stepped through the doorway, and the wall slid closed behind him,
It wasn't as bright, that was the first thing Ianto noticed. He blinked a few times to allow his eyes to adjust from the brightness in his cell to the lack of light in the corridor. Ianto hadn't seen the inside of any ship before, but his imagination had provided him with an interior that resembled the hub: wires, pipes, metal bridges, and computers. This corridor looked nothing like that. Instead, it reminded him of a corridor found in a fancy hotel.
He walked down the corridor, feet sinking into a plush red carpet. He looked left and right at portraits that lined the walls. Some were scenery of places Ianto knew weren't on earth, and some were of aliens. Other Yamni, perhaps. Their faces lacked the mouth and ears. At first he thought there were no doors, but on closer inspection he saw those tiny circles glowing red in the walls. There were doors, they were just in the form of sliding walls.
As he walked, he kept jumping at every sound he heard. The corridor was quiet, and that made him more nervous. He constantly checked over his shoulder, half-expecting Ichtaca to be there.
Ianto reached a junction, and he bit his lip in indecision. Both corridors looked the same, with the red carpet and the portraits on the walls. A noise from the left corridor startled him, and he quickly turned right, walking as fast as he could. He must have been walking for at least ten minutes, but he has yet to bump into any of the Yamni. Where was everyone?
Ianto froze when a disembodied voice filled the area. "Subject 30045 has escaped, I repeat, Subject 30045 has escaped. All personnel are ordered to search all areas of the ship."
Ichtaca must have woken up. Ianto ran—or tried to, at any rate. All he could accomplish was a light jog. He needed a place to hide, but there was nothing but corridors. How big was this ship?
His energy was gone within minutes, and an ache began to blossom in his abdomen. Huffing, he turned to one of the sliding doors. He pressed his palm against the wall, right over the red circle. The door slid opened and Ianto dashed inside.
Once it closed, he leaned against the wall, feeling sweat seep through his skin. He grimaced as the ache in his stomach increased into a cramp. His muscles must be protesting the jog he just took.
His breath heavy, he looked around the room. It was dark so he let his eyes adjust a bit before he could make out the shape of a medical table. He carefully moved across the wall, using it to support himself as the cramp persisted. He carefully avoiding monitors propped on stands and what looked like an MRI machine. The room looked like the hub's medical bay in some ways, but in others it looked like the medical rooms in a hospital. This room was large, but it seemed small with all the medical equipment.
He managed to find a corner that hid him from the doorway, and while he tried to remain standing in case he had to run, he eventually slid down as the pain of the cramp multiplied tenfold, growing until Ianto felt like he was having multiple cramps in his stomach. The pain was excruciating. He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to breathe deeply to lessen the pain, but it wasn't working.
Perhaps it was anxiety of the situation, or maybe it was his desire for nothing to go wrong, but whatever the reason, it took a vicious cramp that nearly made him cry out for him to finally realize what was happening. The cramps weren't from the jog. They weren't cramps at all.
He was in labour.
Fear began to flood his veins. "Jesus, not now," Ianto whispered, resisting the instinct to curl.
The baby was seven weeks too early, and he was stuck in some medical room hiding from aliens who have been eager for this moment, and to make matters worse, being in labour meant the disintegration process was starting. If the baby wasn't removed, it would die.
Ianto's time had officially run out. This was it, and he didn't even know how to get back home.
He pressed the back of his head against the wall behind him, despair making want to scream. This wasn't fair. Ianto had gone through hell and back since the moment he joined Torchwood, and when he was finally given a chance to do something good, when Torchwood finally gave him something to look forward to, all his hopes were going down the drain. He had tried so hard to do this right, and he failed. He failed his child, he failed Jack. He failed himself.
He hissed as another vicious contraction seized him, a reminder that his baby needed to come out, and he was sitting there giving himself a pity-party.
"No," he muttered. He swiped at his forehead with a forearm to wipe away the sweat that gathered there. "No, I haven't failed."
He couldn't fail. He wasn't going to let his baby die. There was still time before the sac completely disappeared. He just needed to find a way to contact the hub. He needed a plan. He was good with plans.
He jumped when the door slid open. Lights flooded the room, and Ianto was given no time to do anything before a Yamni with crimson-hair and dark eyes spotted him. She smirked. "Found you."
She walked further into the room, and Ianto was more than a little dismayed to see Bidziil following her. Bidziil's face was blank as the door closed behind him.
"You won't take my baby," he growled. He flinched and grasped his stomach, swallowing down a cry of pain.
"The choice is out of your hands." She approached his corner and Ianto plastered himself against the wall in a fruitless attempt to keep a distance between them. "This will be so much easier if you don't fight us." She looked over her shoulder. "Tell Ichtaca we found him."
"I can't." Bidziil moved closer and crouched down in front of Ianto. "I need to stay with him." He gave the other Yamni a side-long glance. "If you haven't noticed, he's in labour."
The female's eyes widened. Ianto was sickened to see a gleam of excitement. "Are you certain?"
Ianto gasped sharply, curling just a little at another contraction.
"Yes." Bidziil gave the other Yamni another glance. "You can't tell Ichtaca he's here, either."
The female scowled. "Why?" She took a step away, presumably to do what Bidziil just said she couldn't do.
"Because you'll be dead."
Ianto caught a look of surprise and disbelief flash across the Yamni's face, but it lasted only for a second because she exploded into a pile of powdery dust.
Ianto stared at the pile on the ground, confused despite the haze of pain he was in. He looked at Bidziil, who dismissed the pile and reached out a hand.
Still mistrustful, Ianto spat, "You're not taking me without a fight." He tried to spat, anyway. The pain made his voice falter, the words coming out in gasps.
"There will be no fighting." Bidziil placed his hand on Ianto's stomach, the light touch somehow intensifying the pain. "I'm going to help you."
"What?" Ianto inhaled sharply when another cramp seized him. "Why? Yesterday I asked—I got the impression you wouldn't help."
Bidziil's hand glowed. "I wasn't going to help, but then I realized that you're right. You need to go home, where you belong." He grimaced. "But the sac is disintegrating rapidly."
Oh god. "How rapidly?"
"Too rapidly, faster than I expected." The Yamni's expression was grim. "The baby will need to come out soon."
"Sort of figured that." Bidziil's eyes glowed, and the pain in Ianto's abdomen began to lessen. "What are you doing?"
"Slowing down the disintegrating process."
"You can do that?" Now that the pain was subsiding, Ianto's lungs no longer felt constricted, making it easier for him to speak.
"I'm freezing the molecules that make the sac, putting them in stasis. It will stop the sac from disintegrating." Bidziil's eyes stopped glowing. "That will give us a little time, just enough for us to contact your friends."
An idea came to mind. "Can't you just teleport me back home?"
"I'm not as strong as Ichtaca. I can try to teleport you, but chances are I won't teleport you where I want you to go, and I don't have the power to teleport us at the same time. There was a reason why Ichtaca was the only one who grabbed you while others concentrated on your mate."
"So how do we contact my friends?"
Bidziil lifted a palm and projected a hologram. "This is a blueprint of the spaceship. You see all the dots?" Ianto nodded. Several yellow dots were moving within the hologram. "That's all the Yamni currently running around the ship looking for you. We're here, towards the back of the ship." He pointed at one end of the blueprint, where the only two unmoving dots rested. "We need to get to the control room here." The blueprint rotated until another end of the ship was shown. He pointed at it.
"On the other side of the ship?"
"Yes." He closed his palm, dispelling the hologram. "Once we get to the control room, we can contact your friends." He frowned. "But I don't know how to contact them. I'll need coordinates."
"No need. I know how to reach them. Just help me up and get me to the control room."
With Bidziil's help, Ianto rose to his feet. An ache was still there in his abdomen, but he no longer felt intense pain. At the Yamni's concerned look, Ianto said, "I'll be fine." He didn't let go of Bidziil, though. They walked to the door.
"I want to get there as quickly as possible. I can kill the others if need be, but we have to avoid Ichtaca at all costs. If she kills me, my power over the sac will vanish and it will resume disintegrating."
Ianto nodded, a little nervous as they left the room and walked down the corridor. "Do you have any weapons I can use?"
"Yamni don't have physical weapons, just our powers."
"Brilliant," Ianto muttered.
"I apologize for what I put you through this past week." Bidziil looked at him seriously. "I'm ashamed of my actions, even more so knowing that my mate would've disapproved."
"How did your mate die?" Ianto asked in a soft whisper, needing something to distract him so his fear and anxiety wouldn't overwhelm him.
Bidziil stared straight ahead. "She gave Ichtaca the wrong coordinates during Ichtaca's first teleportation to earth. She blamed my mate for the way she looked." Bidziil swallowed. "Ichtaca killed her in retaliation."
"Why did you stay? You hate the experiments, you lost your mate—why did you stay?"
"I wanted to leave, but I felt like I needed to be here so I can help the men they brought here to experiment on. The Yamni here are nothing more than cold-hearted scientists, ruled by logic and not emotion, and they don't care about anything except the end result. Someone needed to treat the humans as humans, and not as scientific subjects." He glanced at Ianto. "And now I think I was meant to stay to help you."
"Thank you," Ianto whispered.
Bidziil relied on the projected map coming from his palm to guide them to their destination, avoiding corridors that seemed populated by dots, and dragging Ianto into empty rooms when a dot got too close. Ianto noticed that some dots tended to disappear, only to reappear in other sections of the ship. It looked like some of the Yamni were teleporting.
Ianto didn't know how long they walked, but eventually all the corridors began to look the same. He lost track of how many turns they made, how many rooms they hid in. At one point, Ianto was forced to hide behind a large piece of machinery that was stored in a room because soon after hiding inside, another Yamni had entered the room. Bidziil declared the area empty to persuade the Yamni to leave before Ianto was discovered.
As they rounded yet another corner, a Yamni suddenly appeared in front of them, a blonde female. "Have you—?" She grinned when she spied Ianto, who was partially covered by Bidziil. "Ah, you did find the subject."
Bidziil straightened. "Yes, I did."
"Good. Ichtaca is having a fit."
"I don't give a damn about Ichtaca." Bidziil subtly moved in front of Ianto, blocking him from her view. He managed to peek around Bidziil's body.
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, we all know how important your human rat—"
She exploded. Bidziil grabbed Ianto's hand and pulled him away from what was now another pile of dust. "We have to keep moving. The others are bound to stumble upon the remains of the two Yamni I killed."
Ianto licked his lips. "I thought Ichtaca was the only one who could kill things."
"Ichtaca is strong, but it doesn't mean she's the only one with the power to kill."
It was a long journey, but they eventually reached the control room. Bidziil slapped his hand against the wall and it slid opened.
"Quickly," Bidziil urged.
Ianto entered the control room, blinking at the interior. Again, nothing like Ianto had expected. It was sophisticated. There were ten leather chairs aligned against the walls with five on opposite sides, each with a hanging monitor. Underneath the monitors were panels covered in buttons and levers. There was a bigger panel that covered the entire front of the room, with more buttons, levers, and screens. The most notable aspect of the room was a large glass wall that revealed a view of outer space, a much clearer view than the one Ianto had in his cell.
Bidziil led him to the front of the room where the large panel sat. He pressed a few buttons and released a breath. "The control room is now on lock down. No one can get in, no one can get out, not even if they teleported." He pressed more buttons. "I've connected you to all earth's servers," Bidziil said. "Will that do?
Ianto nodded. That was all he needed. He knew the access codes that would allow him to enter the hub's mainframe. "What are the coordinates of where this ship is stationed at?"
Bidziil quickly looked it up on a separate monitor. He rattled off the numbers. "Got it?"
Ianto nodded. "Thank you."
"Do what you need to do," Bidziil said. He opened his palm to reveal his miniature projection. Ianto noticed a dot closing in on the control room. "And do it fast."
Uranus and Neptune were officially out, leaving Saturn and Jupiter. That was still too many moons, but Jack sent Terry to help Gwen with Jupiter while he assigned Nia to help him with Saturn. The smaller moons were faster to check, but the bigger moons had so much land mass to cover, taking time that Jack knew they didn't have.
Jack's eyes were strained from staring at the screen too long as he guided his satellite across the surface of Rhea. Craters, craters, and more craters, some so deep Jack had to zoom in close to make sure nothing was hiding in there. It would be easier if the spaceship was big and visible and sat right on the surface, but he was well aware that some ships could be invisible while others could be half-buried underground, partially hidden while the rest blended with its surroundings.
As he moved his satellite upward, his computer suddenly detected life-forms. Jack jerked upwards in his seat. He peered at the image the satellite was giving him, zooming in until he found a long, triangle shape. It was white, blending in with the moon's surface, but it was smooth, shiny, and most definitely alien.
"Found you," he whispered, hope surging through him. The satellite detected several life-forms. Not as many as Mr. Robertson had said, but that didn't mean this wasn't the Yamni's ship.
He was just about to bring up the coordinates when large block letters appeared across the screen. "What the fuck?"
He heard shouts from the main hub and Jack left his office to see what was going on. The others were gaping at the screens of their computers, rousing his suspicions, which were eventually confirmed when he approached Gwen's computer and saw words appearing across her screen. "It just appeared!" Gwen exclaimed.
Jack opened his mouth to respond, but he snapped it shut when he read the words, eyes wide and heart just about bursting with hope and relief.
This is Ianto. The coordinates of my location are as follows.
Jack quickly snagged a notepad and pen, scribbling the numbers that appeared so he wouldn't forget. He looked up to read the last two words on the message.
Hurry, Jack.
"I'm coming," Jack whispered.
"Is that really Ianto?" Terry asked.
"Who else could it be?" Nia questioned.
"We have to believe its Ianto." Jack quickly typed in the coordinates Ianto gave him. When the coordinates revealed the location to be on Rhea, Saturn's moon, Jack smiled. "It's definitely Ianto. I found a ship on Rhea. This only confirms that it belongs to the Yamni, and that Ianto's still in our solar system."
"So what do we do now?"
Jack thought over Gwen's question. He turned to look at his team. He knew what he wanted to do. He planned to teleport himself to the Yamni ship, kill them all, and bring Ianto back home, but he couldn't do it alone. There were too many Yamni, and just a fraction of them had already proved to be dangerous. He needed to take someone with him.
He glanced at Gwen. She was the strongest and useful in a fight, but he recalled her desire to have a conversation with the Yamni, hoping that they would leave Ianto alone without causing any bloodshed. Her wish to give them a chance to accept the team's help and seek another way for the Yamni race to survive would only serve to hinder Jack's plans.
Jack turned to Nia. "Grab a couple of guns. You're coming with me to the spaceship."
He strode to his office. He wasn't surprised when Gwen followed. "Jack, I want to go."
"No."
"But why? Ianto's important to me just as much as he's important to you. I can't just sit here in the hub and do nothing."
"I'm going in there to kill every fucking Yamni that's on that ship." He opened the safe in the wall behind his desk. "No negotiations, no prisoners. I'm sending a message for any Yamni out there in the universe, whether present or future, to stay the hell away from my family. I need someone ruthless who will shoot without guilt. I need someone who will not hesitate to pull the trigger even when they beg for their lives. I'm not giving any of them a second chance." He removed a rectangular device that resembled a remote control. He turned around to look at her. "They signed their death warrants the moment they kidnapped Ianto. Do you really want to be a part of that kind of violence?"
Gwen swallowed and slowly shook her head.
Nia's entrance into his office ended their conversation. She held up two weapons. "Alien guns. Shoots bullets, electricity, laser beams, and a few other nasty surprises." At Jack's raised eyebrow, she shrugged. "Made a few modifications." She caught Gwen's slightly resentful look. "Don't be mad at me just because Jack wants to take me and not you."
Gwen shook her head. "No, I'm not mad at you. I just—" She inhaled sharply. "Jack's right in taking you. I'm not the right one to fight at his side for a 'no prisoners' battle." She glared at Jack. "But you better bring Ianto home."
Jack nodded grimly. "You bet I will."
Ianto sighed and stepped away from the computer.
"Did you send it?"
Ianto nodded. "I told them to hurry." He rested his hands on his stomach, still worried. "I just hope they get here in time."
There was a loud bang against the doorway of the control room. He looked at it nervously. "No one can come in, right?"
Bidziil nodded, but he moved to the center of the control room, facing the closed doorway. "I deactivated the lock on the door. They can't open it." There was another bang. "But I must admit, if the door is destroyed, they can easily come in."
Ianto nearly choked at that admission. "So even the control room isn't safe?"
"I'll make sure no harm comes to you, Ianto." Bidziil glanced at him over his shoulder. "You will go home. I just wished you'd be going home to your mate."
Ianto laughed, the sound almost hysterical as fear threatened to lodge his throat. There was screeching from the other side of the door, accompanied by another bang. "I have news for you. My mate's alive."
Bidziil frowned, startled. "Ichtaca said he was killed."
"He was. That's what makes him so special. He doesn't stay dead."
The screeching returned, and what sounded like an explosion made the doorway shudder. Bidziil faced the doorway once more, and Ianto watched as his whole body tensed. "Ianto, find some place to hide. I fear they are close to finding a way inside."
Ianto didn't hesitate. He quickly sought shelter behind a small pillar. "Hurry your arse up, Harkness," he muttered.
Jack and Nia stood in the middle of the main hub surrounded by Terry and Gwen. "Okay," she said, "so that thing is going to teleport us to the spaceship?" She pointed at the little remote control.
"Yep." Jack typed in the coordinates into the device. "All it needs is coordinates, and it'll take us there."
Nia looked unconvinced that a tiny and simplistic device would safely teleport them to the Yamni spaceship. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. It's been tested."
He looked at Terry. "Be ready for when we get back in case Ianto's hurt."
Terry looked worried. "Are you sure it's wise going to their spaceship? I mean, you're essentially going to enter their territory, not to mention that there are several of them and only two of you."
"They think I'm dead. They're not going to be expecting me, which gives us a bit of an advantage. Besides, we're going to shoot them as soon as we see them." That didn't seem to absolve any of the doctor's worries. "We'll be back before you know it."
Terry nodded. "Just bring Ianto home."
Jack delivered his own nod. He turned to Gwen, who still looked slightly resentful of his plan, but who also had a hint of understanding in her gaze. "Hold the fort while we're gone," he told her.
"We'll be waiting," she replied.
Jack grabbed Nia's arm. "Here we go." He lifted his hand and pressed a button on the teleporting device.
Teleportation devices varied. Some made the trip smooth and easy, others caused a bumpier ride. This particular device fell in the latter category. There was a strong sense of vertigo, his surroundings spinning, colours blending together until it abruptly stopped, causing him to wobble slightly.
"Whoa," Nia muttered. "Think I'm going to be sick."
"Be sick later." Jack glanced around, surprised by what he saw. Plush red carpet, portraits on the walls, and low lighting. It was a pretty nice looking hallway. And quiet. He gripped his weapon.
Nia took out a slim PDA. "Eleven life-forms."
"Eleven?" Jack frowned even as he kept an eye out. "Before we left I counted a couple of more than that."
"Well, my PDA is telling me eleven. They're moving all over the place, except for three of them. Uh-oh." Jack looked at her sharply, hearing the alarm in her voice. Her eyes were wide. "We need to move. Someone is—"
A wall close to them suddenly opened and a man stepped out, a man that Jack instantly recognized as the Yamni who helped Ichtaca in the department store. The Yamni halted when he caught sight of them.
"—coming," Nia finished.
"Who—?" The Yamni's words abruptly stopped when he caught sight of Jack, alive and whole. "You!" he shouted.
"Me." Jack smiled, lifted his gun, and took advantage of the shocked state the Yamni was in at seeing Jack alive. He pulled the trigger, and the Yamni screamed as he was encased in visible bolts of blue electricity. Within seconds, the body fell to the ground, badly burned, before it collapsed into a thin spread of ashes.
Jack blew the smoking muzzle of his weapon. "Nice modification."
"Thanks."
Jack walked around the pile of ashes. "Now, let's go and find Ianto."
When the door exploded inward, Ianto quickly hid behind the pillar. The screeching sound was louder now that there was no barrier to muffle it. When he dared to look around the pillar, it was a bald-headed Yamni with tattoos, his muscular frame making him the biggest of the Yamni on the ship.
The Yamni charged into the room, snarling at Bidziil. They began to argue in their native tongue. When the bald-headed Yamni began to glow, so did Bidziil. Golden auras surrounded both of their bodies from head to toe. They suddenly vanished, golden balls of light replacing them in the areas they had stood. Ianto watched in avid fascination when the balls crashed into each other, the harsh contact resulting in an explosion of sparks. Bidziil and his opponent abruptly reappeared, both of them lying on the floor. They scrambled to their feet, circling each other. The bald Yamni screeched, answering Ianto's question of where that sound was coming from. Was that something all the Yamni did? Or just that one?
Ianto groaned softly and wrapped an arm around his midsection. The pain was returning rather forcefully. Perhaps whatever Bidziil had done to halt the sac from disintegrating was faltering now that the Yamni was using his power to fight a fellow alien.
Ianto looked around for something to use as a weapon, but half of the equipment was foreign to him. Besides, what could he do? He found something that resembled a radio. He lifted it up and studied it, analyzing its weight. He glanced at the bald Yamni, the round shape of his head.
Ianto didn't have powers, but he did have good aim.
He took a breath to steady himself and narrowed his eyes at the bald man. Ianto shifted his stance, rolled his shoulder, and threw the radio thing at the Yamni's bare head. The device cracked into two pieces, but it was enough. The Yamni stiffened and fell flat on his face, body still.
The pain in his midsection vanished as Bidziil reached him. "Are you all right?"
"Yes." He stared at the fallen enemy. "Did I kill him?"
"If only. He's unconscious." Bidziil glanced around. "We need to leave. That explosion was too loud for Ichtaca not to have heard. There should be enough time to—"
"Run away?"
Ianto jerked his head around to stare at the large hole where the doorway once stood. Standing in the center of it all was Ichtaca. Her eyes were narrowed at them both. "Where would you go, pray tell?"
Bidziil stepped in front of Ianto. "It's over, Ichtaca."
She glared at him. "It's not over." She glanced at the fallen alien. "Not by a long shot."
Ianto watched as the bald-headed Yamni groaned, stirring. "Shit," he muttered when the fallen Yamni lifted his head, one broad hand touching the back of his smooth scalp.
Bidziil glowed. "I'll protect him."
Ichtaca smirked. "You're no match for me and you know it." She tossed her head. "Hand him over, Bidziil, and we'll forget your betrayal."
"No."
The bald man snarled as he climbed to his feet. "You're making a big mistake, Bidziil. The subject is our survival."
"There are other ways the Yamni can survive, Masu," Bidziil argued. "Other ways we can find solutions. We're treating him like an insect, and yet you seem to forget that he's a human, an ancestor of the Yamni."
Ichtaca snorted. "You're foolish, Bidziil. Just like your mate."
Ianto saw Bidziil tense. "Do not bring her into this."
"Why not? She was stupid. That's why I killed her."
Ianto knew what she was doing, pushing Bidziil's buttons, and he was playing right into her hands. "You killed her because you didn't like the fact that she made you look like a fool, forcing you to absorb the appearance of a human child."
That certainly hit the mark. Ichtaca's smugness slightly dissipated. "She did it on purpose."
"It was an accident, an accident caused by your lack of patience to go to earth. If you hadn't persisted, she would've had enough time to give you the right coordinates. You forced her to make her mistake, an honest mistake, and you punished her like it was a large transgression."
Ichtaca snarled. "Last chance, Bidziil. Hand him over or you'll die."
Bidziil's response was to point his finger at Ichtaca. There was a tiny explosion against her chest, causing her to stumble back, but it did nothing more. She laughed. "I told you, Bidziil. You're no match for me." Her eyes glowed.
Bidziil's head suddenly jerked back, and he screamed before his body melted. Literally melted, like ice-cream.
"I thought about making him explode, but then realized that making him melt would be much more excruciating," Ichtaca said disdainfully.
Ianto could only stare in horror at the puddle by his feet, his shock lasting only a moment before the pain returned to an intense degree. A painful contraction seized his stomach and he gasped, knees nearly buckling.
"It looks like the baby is ready to come out," Ichtaca said, and she too had that gleam of excitement in her eyes, similar to the gleam he had seen in the other Yamni's eyes before Bidziil had killed her.
Ianto grabbed the panel to keep him upright, glancing back and forth between the two Yamni as they approached him, but he couldn't take a single step away. He feared falling if he tried.
When their sixth victim died, the blood splatter coloured the walls brown.
Jack lowered his weapon and turned to Nia. "How many are left?"
Nia frowned at her PDA. Her face was lightly covered with ash, as was Jack's. A few of their victims had died at close range, leaving behind dust particles on their skin.
"Three more life forms," she answered. "There should be four, but one just vanished."
"Teleportation?" Jack looked around, expecting to see one of the Yamni appear.
"If so, it didn't teleport to another part of the ship. There's no one else besides us and those three."
"Where are they?"
"Clustered together in one room. These might be the same three I saw on the PDA earlier, the ones who weren't moving. They're in the same spot." She walked a few feet forward and pointed down another corridor. "That way. Not too far."
"One of them has to be Ianto."
Nia put her PDA away in her back pocket. "And probably Ichtaca. We haven't seen her yet."
Jack's heart burned with fear for Ianto, but a tendril of anticipation emerged at finally killing Ichtaca. He wanted her dead, and if she so much as harmed one tiny hair on Ianto's head, Jack was going to ensure that her death was drawn out as long as painfully possible.
"No matter what," he said as they began to head down the corridor, "we're not leaving here without Ianto. And we're not leaving here without making sure Ichtaca is out of commission." He tightened his hold on his weapon. "Permanently."
"Stay away from me," Ianto growled, and then he doubled-over, an agonized cry leaving his lips as another contraction hit him.
"You're in no position to tell me what to do." Ichtaca approached and reached out to touch him. Unable to move, Ianto could only flinch. "You're a lot cleverer than I thought, I'll give you that. Hitting me with a vase, of all things."
"You're not going to win," he gasped.
Ichtaca arched a brow. "I believe I've already won. The baby needs to come out before it dies. I may not carry children, but even I know that a parent's instinct is to ensure the survival of his or her child. You'll have to let me perform surgery."
"A parent's instinct to protect is just as strong." Ianto inhaled sharply as a particular spasm made his knees tremble. He couldn't stay standing for much longer. "Do you really expect me to lie down for you, make you cut me open so you can take my baby and make him a breeding slave?"
"You have no choice." Ichtaca narrowed her eyes. "I had such high hopes that this would be so easy." She snapped her fingers.
Masu grabbed him from behind, big hands wrapping around Ianto's arms and jerking him upright. Ianto struggled as Masu forcefully stretched out Ianto's right arm, exposing his inner elbow. He kicked back and managed to hit a calf, but Masu only grunted and held on.
Ichtaca lifted a hand, and her index finger grew into a sharp point. "I had promised the Yamni rulers that I would bring back both father and son, but I'll just have to explain that the father died in childbirth."
"I will kill you," Ianto hissed.
Ichtaca paid no heed to his threat. "I would just like to see you try."
Ianto stumbled when the hands holding him suddenly went limp, a burst of air hitting his nape and a loud thump sounding behind him. At the same time, a laser beam nearly hit Ichtaca. She managed to get out of the way just in time, falling to the ground as the laser beam struck the panel. Ianto couldn't stand anymore and fell to the ground as well, right next to the body of Masu, who now sported a bullet hole in his forehead.
Ianto didn't give the body much thought as another contraction took his breath away, this one much worse than the others. He harshly bit on his lower lip to muffle a scream as the agony occurring in his abdomen nearly overwhelmed him. The pain was white-hot; it felt like something was ripping inside of him.
Just as the contraction faded enough for him to release his lip, a tiny arm suddenly wrapped around his neck. His head was arched, but his pain and discomfort were shoved back by a burst of happy relief when he saw Jack and Nia standing in the opening of the destroyed wall, guns out and aimed. Nia looked determined and intimidating, but most of Ianto's focus was on Jack, looking just as intimidating with a big weapon in his hand and the bottom of his coat swirling around his ankles, lips tight and eyes fiercely narrowed with focused determination.
"Impossible," Ichtaca whispered by his ear. "You were dead. How did you—?"
"We all have our secrets." Jack kept his weapon pointed at her. Not once did he look at Ianto, keeping his attention on Ichtaca. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. We've already killed all the other Yamni on this spaceship. Every single fucking one of them. I can just as happily kill you, too. So let me take Ianto with me, stay the hell away from us, and I won't let you get hurt. Or I kill you, still take Ianto with me, and not worry about you ever again."
"What makes you think I'll fall for that? You'll kill me the moment I no longer have him as my shield." She tightened her arm around his throat, emphasizing her point. She was strong for someone in the body of a ten year old.
"You're right," Jack agreed. "So how about this? I can make your death easy and quick, or very horrific and painful."
She hissed at them. "I can easily teleport us out of here. Try to find us."
Ianto braced for teleportation, but nothing happened. He still remained in the control room with Ichtaca's arm around his throat. Ichtaca blustered, obviously taken by surprise. Even Jack blinked.
Confused, Ianto was unsure of what happened, not when he had been told that Ichtaca's powers were strong. Teleportation shouldn't be a problem. But it wasn't until his eyes landed on the puddle that was once Bidziil that he understood what happened. Bidziil had locked down the control room. No one can teleport in, no one could teleport out. Even a blasted wall didn't change that.
Ianto felt a sharp point by his neck. Her finger. "I can kill him. I don't need him, just his baby."
"Don't you fucking dare," Jack said softly, his voice dripping with menace. "If you hurt him or my baby, I'll make sure that you suffer something worse than death. I'll make you beg for me to kill you."
"Don't you see what you're doing?" Ichtaca suddenly demanded, and Ianto heard a hint of desperation in her voice. "An entire race depends on this baby!"
"And I don't give a shit."
There was heavy breathing in Ianto's ear for several seconds. Ianto could practically feel the desperation coming from his captor. "It doesn't matter," she abruptly said. "You won't shoot me, not when you might hurt your precious mate."
Ianto squeezed his eyes shut. The combination of pain from labour and the tightness of Ichtaca's arm around his throat were making it difficult to breathe. He opened his eyes, knowing what needed to be done. "Shoot her."
Jack's eyes didn't look at him. "Ianto—"
"Save the baby." It was difficult to talk. "Please. You have to save the baby, protect him."
"Would you really risk your mate's life?" Ichtaca asked. "Does he really mean so little to you?"
It was Nia who responded to Ichtaca's insensitivity. "Shut it, bitch."
"Jack," Ianto said, nearly begging.
Jack licked his lips, and when his eyes finally shifted to his, behind the mask of cold determination and bravery, Ianto saw uncertainty and, even worse, fear. Jack was afraid underneath all those layers of cool bravado, because that was all it was, false courage in the face of an enemy who held his lover hostage.
Glancing at Nia, Ianto saw a glimmer of fear in her eyes. She might be afraid for him, or she might be afraid because this was her first real confrontation with a violent alien, but that shadow of fear was holding her back in much the same way Jack's fear held him back.
They weren't going to do it. They didn't want to risk him getting hurt or killed. Bloody typical. The one time Ianto actually wanted to die so his child could be saved, and they weren't going to do it.
Ianto tightened his lips, knowing that anything could happen if Ichtaca managed to stick her finger into his neck. He might lose consciousness, he might not, but he definitely didn't want to die without knowing what happened to his son, without knowing if his baby was taken back home in Jack's arms or if Ichtaca managed to teleport the baby back to whatever galaxy all the Yamni were at, and the overwhelming pain stemming from his abdomen told him that someone needed to do something soon.
With no other option, and out of pure desperation, Ianto clenched a hand and swung it back.
His aim was true.
Ichtaca shouted as his fist hit her face. She was caught off-guard by the attack from an unexpected source, and the hold on his throat loosened. Ianto lunged forward to get out of her hold completely, feeling her fingers brush against his nape as she tried to use him as her shield again.
Then a long, agonizing scream rented through the air. Ianto turned his head just in time to see Ichtaca disintegrate from the laser beam. He looked at Jack and Nia, and saw that the source of the beam was from Jack's weapon.
Lowering his weapon, Jack ran to his side. "Ianto—"
"It's time, I'm in labour, the sac is breaking down." Ianto was helpless to stop the babble, trying to convey the information to Jack as fast as possible.
"I know, I know," Jack said, but the paling of his face told Ianto that Jack hadn't known at all that Ianto was in labour. "Nia!"
Nia reached Ianto's side, giving him a false, cheery smile. "It's going to be okay."
Jack took out some kind of device from the pocket of his coat and wrapped an arm around Ianto, hugging him close. Nia touched his shoulder and arm as Jack lifted the device. "Let's go home."
Vertigo struck, his surroundings spinning madly. Ianto didn't even get to see the hub materialize around him before the abrupt change in environment caused him to pass out.
"Terry!" Jack shouted, cradling Ianto's body against him.
Terry scrambled up from the medical bay. "Is he—?"
"The sac is disintegrating." With Terry's help, they managed to carry Ianto's unconscious form down the stairs and into the medical bay. They placed him on the table. "The teleportation made him pass out."
"I see that." Terry quickly dispersed of Ianto's upper clothing and scanned his swollen stomach. Terry cursed as soon as the image appeared on his monitor's screen. "The sac is nearly gone. The umbilical cord also. I need to get the baby out now."
Jack swallowed. "Will the baby—?"
Terry didn't let him finish. "Leave, Jack."
"Fuck no." Jack finally got Ianto back after a week of worrying, he wasn't going to leave him now, not when Ianto looked so deathly pale.
"Jack, I can't have you looking over my shoulder and getting in my way." Terry was using a marker to outline the area where he will cut into Ianto's belly.
"You can't do this alone. I have medical experience. I can assist."
"No, you can't. You're emotionally involved." Terry glared at him. "Jack, I need someone with a steady hand, not someone running on adrenaline and fear. There's a reason why family members and significant others never perform surgery on those they love." Terry looked at the stairwell where the girls were watching. "Nia, get your arse down here. You're going to help me."
"Nia has absolutely no medical experience!"
"She's going to help with the basics, that's it."
Jack clenched his hands, unable to do anything to help his lover and feeling as useless as he had felt during the past week. As Nia came beside him, she grabbed his shoulder. "We'll take good care of him, I promise."
Jack didn't want to leave, but when Gwen came down and grabbed his hand, he allowed her to pull him away from the medical bay and into the main hub where he couldn't see. She rubbed his arms through his coat. "They'll be okay. Terry's good. You only choose the best, yes?"
Yes, he did, but was the best enough?
Gwen led him to the couch, holding his hand tightly. They said nothing, but Jack took comfort from her presence all the same. It was frustrating to not be there, to not hold Ianto's hand and let him know he was there by his sheer presence. Didn't Ianto always tease him that Jack's magnetism was strong enough to be felt by the dead?
He placed his head in his hands, jiggling his foot. Gwen's hand began to run up and down his back. Jack did his best not to think about Ianto or the baby dying, but that has always been a possibility, and now that it was rearing its ugly head, Jack found himself hoping that for once, he got to have it all. He wanted Ianto, he wanted the baby. He wanted both. He wanted them so bad. For once in his long miserable life, he wanted not to be left alone.
Minutes ticked by, and as time wore on without any hint of what was happening, Jack's agitation rose to levels that even Gwen couldn't soothe. Just as Jack was about to hop off the couch and barge into the medical bay to see what was going on, he heard the unmistakable cry of a baby.
Jack froze, his heart damn near bursting with fragile hope and joy. Gwen placed a hand over her mouth, the sound having as much of an effect on her as it did on him. A baby's cry, his baby's cry, was good news, right?
He didn't have to wait long before Nia walked back into the main hub with a squirming bundle wrapped in towels. "I cleaned him up as best I could, but I thought I shouldn't keep him from you any longer."
Jack stood and held out his hands, gladly accepting the precious cargo. The baby was wailing at the top of his tiny lungs, his skin purple and slightly bloody, but he didn't care as he cradled the infant against his chest. Jack swallowed as a tight ball of emotion threatened to choke him. The baby eventually quieted down, still squirming, and Jack was absolutely fascinated by what he and Ianto created together, from the tiny clenched hands to the tufts of black hair that he clearly got from Ianto. His eyes were open, the colour a shade of blue. He was absolutely beautiful. Even Gwen was enchanted, making sounds of awe at the little baby.
"The baby's okay," Nia said wearily. "As expected of a premature baby, he's a little small, but I already scanned him, and so far the baby seems to be as healthy as a premature baby could be. Terry does want him in an incubator just to make sure, but you can hold him for a little while."
Jack felt some of the burden lift from his shoulders at the news. There was another worry that still lay heavily on his shoulders, though. "And Ianto?" Jack asked, his eyes on his son. There was no answer. Jack looked up to see Nia's worried face. "Nia, how's Ianto?"
Nia took a deep breath. "He's bleeding. Internally. While the sac was disintegrating it was taking some tissue with it. Terry is trying to stop it, but he's having difficulty."
Jack felt all excitement at the birth of his son vanish, replaced by a new fear for his lover's life.
"What does that mean?" Gwen asked, holding a hand to her chest.
"According to Terry, if he doesn't stop the bleeding, chances of Ianto waking up ever again are slim to none."
Gwen took a sharp breath before turning away, her own excitement at the baby's birth seeming to vanish at the possibility that Ianto could die. Much like Jack, she had also blocked out the glaring possibility of Ianto dying as a result of the birth.
Jack couldn't believe this was happening. Ianto was such an integral part of his life, and to wake up tomorrow as a single father without his partner there to raise their son together—the idea was inconceivable. Jack wasn't prepared to lose his lover like this. It was too soon.
"He better not give up." Jack wasn't sure if he was referring to Terry or Ianto.
"I'll come back with updates." Nia returned to the medical bay.
Jack looked down at his son. "He'll be okay," he whispered. "Cute daddy wouldn't leave you. I promise."
Jack hoped that his first promise to his son wouldn't end up being broken.