Chapter Ten
When the dematerialization was finished they all helped to take Ianto to the autopsy room. When he was on the table, Martha was able to do a complete scan of his body. Closely examining the images she breathed a sigh of relief that her initial assessment of his head injury was accurate. The scan showed no further brain damage. Slowly the scan continued down his body. When his spleen appeared on the screen she froze the image for a closer look. She really didn't want to open him up if she didn't have to. Thankfully she found no tears in his spleen. It had obviously been badly bruised and that had been what had caused the pain when she had done the check back on the planet. Turning off the machine, she then tended to his head wound. First cleaning it, she then tenderly stitched the gash and covered it with a bandage. Hooking him up to an IV drip, she placed the needle into the back of his hand and taped it down. Grabbing a blanket, she covered him and made her way up the stairs to the others.
When she reached the landing, she led the others out of the room. All of them were looking anxiously at her. Jack's eyes were full of tears. Gwen's were full of fear, John's were concerned and the Doctor's held compassion as they always did. Holding up her hand to stop any questions she turned to Jack.
"Physically he's fine. Apart from the head wound, which is minor by the way and a bruised spleen, he has no other injuries."
"But all that blood." Jack asked desperately.
"Relax, it's from the head wound, they always bleed."
"When will he wake up?" John asked.
"Well that's the thing. I don't know. He's received a blow to the head obviously so the body has shut itself down to let him heal. We just have to wait. For now he can stay in the autopsy room but I really would like to set up a bed somewhere else."
"We can set something up in the conference room." Gwen replied. She grabbed John and the Doctor and pulled them behind her as she made her way up the stairs.
Jack turned and headed down to sit next to Ianto. Martha watched him go and then turned to help the others. When she arrived in the conference room she had to laugh a little to herself. Gwen was giving the orders and the guys were quickly obeying. Slowly they moved the huge table over to the side of the room. However that was where they stopped. Even though they had a nice big empty space, they didn't have a bed to go in it.
"There's a spare in the TARDIS." The Doctor declared, "come on John, we'll go get it."
As they left the room they both winked at Martha as they passed her. Ten minutes later they returned, half dragging the bed up the stairs. Both Gwen and Martha helped them bring the bed into the room. Sitting on the mattress was the linen. Gwen and Martha made quick work of making up the bed while the guys caught their breaths in preparation for moving Ianto up here. With the bed made, they all walked down to the autopsy room. When Martha touched Jack's shoulder he gave a start. He'd been so focused on Ianto that he hadn't beard the others arrive. Martha told him that they'd set up a bed for Ianto and they'd need his help to move him. Handing Gwen the IV bag, she checked his vitals before they moved him.
Ianto moaned a few times as he was settled into the bed but didn't open his eyes. As soon as Martha said it was ok, Jack sat on the edge of the bed and took hold of his hand again and commenced talking to him. Martha walked out to talk to the others.
"Is there anything we can do?" Gwen asked.
"Yes, go home to Rhys. Have something to eat, get some sleep. If anything changes, I'll ring you straight away."
"What about you? Are you going home to Tom?"
"He's at work and I need to stay here to monitor Ianto. Tom's going to come in when he's finished at the hospital."
"Oh goodie, I finally get to meet him."
Martha looked over at the Doctor and smiled indulgently at his childlike excitement. However, she did tell him to mind his manners. To that comment he just grinned and winked at her. Gwen interrupted them by saying that she was not going anywhere and that Rhys would be coming here when he finished work. When he got there they would go and get dinner.
An hour later Rhys arrived, after being introduced to both John and the Doctor they went up to see Ianto. Sitting with Jack at Ianto's bedside, they spoke quietly about nothing much. Standing up, they told Jack that they would be going to get dinner and that they would bring something up to him when they got back. As they were leaving they bumped into Tom just as he was arriving. Exchanging greetings, Gwen then buzzed Tom in and then they left to get dinner.
When they returned, everyone converged on the work area to eat their burgers and chips. Before Martha started hers she took a plate of food up to Jack and ordered him to eat saying that he'd be no good to Ianto if he let himself get run down. She didn't leave until Jack had taken a bite out of his burger and eaten some chips.
When she rejoined the others she found that the Doctor had cornered Tom and they were having what looked to be an in-depth conversation. Grabbing her plate, she made her way over to them. When she reached them, Tom looked at her and smiled. She had told him all about the Doctor so he was not surprised by anything that he had told him. Turning to the Doctor, she grinned. This was the first time in over a week that they had been able to relax a little bit. They shared some wine and some laughs and they all felt normal.
Several hours later, Martha made her way up to check on Ianto, still thinking about how well Tom and the Doctor were getting on. When she reached the room, she was surprised to see that the lights had been turned down. Slowly and quietly she walked through the door and came to a sudden stop and smiled. Jack had managed to squeeze onto the bed with Ianto and had taken him in his arms. While they slept, Martha quickly took a set of obs from Ianto and was happy with the results. His pulse was stronger and he had more colour. Picking up a blanket she covered Jack and then left the room as quietly as she had entered.