Taking Care

Title: Taking Care
Word count: 1,328
Setting: Post-Countrycide
Disclaimer: If I owned Torchwood, would I make my ideas into expensive episodes, or would I post them for free on fanfiction? Honestly!
A/N: Last chapter I'm afraid I can't name everyone here, but I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed this, put it as a favourite, or on their story alert. I love you all!

Sunday

Ten minutes later, Ianto was sitting on his sofa eating an omelette Jack had made him. And to his credit, Jack wasn't as bad in the kitchen as Ianto had thought. In fact, he was brilliant. Ianto had never tasted an omelette as good as this before.

When he finished it, Jack handed him a pill. Once he'd swallowed it, Ianto drank his water. He then leaned back against the sofa.

Jack put his arm around Ianto's shoulders. "Do you want to go back to bed," he whispered into Ianto's ear. "or would you rather stay up?"

Ianto thought about it. He finally croaked out, "I'd rather stay up, if that's okay."
Jack kissed Ianto's temple. "Of course it is."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Half an hour later, in the very early hours of Sunday morning, Jack's mobile rang.

With a groan Jack moved his arm away from Ianto and checked his caller ID. It was Tosh. It had to be important if she was calling at this time.

He answered it. "Captain Jack Harkness, how may I help you, Toshiko Sato?"
"Jack, I've been checking the CCTV from today, and I think I know who put the xinerdryplass in Ianto's coffee."
Jack sat up straight, suddenly interested. "Who?"
He heard Tosh took a deep breath. "Gwen."
Jack just sat there, his phone to his ear, Ianto watching him, unable to take the information in. Gwen? Why? Finally he spoke. "Right, tell her to come to Ianto's flat immediately. I'm not leaving him alone."
"Okay." With that, she was gone.
"Tell who to come to Ianto's flat immediately?" Ianto asked.
Jack sighed. "Gwen."
"Why does she need to come here."
Jack twisted round in his seat to face him. "Tosh reckons, with the help of the Hub's internal security cameras, of course, that she's the one who put the xinerdryplass in your coffee yesterday."
Ianto looked shocked. Not that Jack could blame him.
Eventually, Ianto found his voice. "Why?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know. That's why she's coming here."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

About 20 minutes later, there was a knock at Ianto's front door.

The men had resumed their position from before Tosh had called, and Jack once again groaned when he went to answer the door.

Gwen was standing in the doorway, staring at her feet, in a shirt that looked suspiciously like Owen's and the jeans she was wearing the previous day. She looked up when Jack answered the door.

He stepped back, signalling for her to come in.

Ianto looked up at Gwen and gave her a weak smile. She glared back at him.

Jack ignored this little exchange, after closing Ianto's front door, came into the living room, and, facing Gwen straight on, gestured at Ianto.

"Look at him!" he boomed, not shouting, but his voice was unnaturally loud in the previously silent flat. "Look at him! Look at what you've done to him, Gwen Cooper! Why would you do it! Why! After what I told you Friday!"

Ianto's mind started spinning. What had Jack told her? Friday was when Ianto had told Jack about his childhood, about the things he'd kept hidden for so long. He wouldn't tell her all that, would he?

He quickly realised, that if his mind was spinning, it wasn't going to affect his stomach too well.

Jack glanced at the young man, and saw his face go a pale shade of green. Without a word, he ran into the kitchen, and emerged seconds later with a bowl. He sat down next to the Welshman, and held it under his mouth, stroking his hair as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the bowl.

When he was done, Jack took the bowl out into the kitchen and proceeded to scrub it.

With Jack out of earshot, Gwen went stood in front of Ianto, who was now lying down on the sofa, looking badly defeated.

Gwen leant down and whispered in his ear. "You think you feel bad now? I read the file Owen wrote on xinerdryplass. In a few hours, you are going to feel so shit you'll wish you had died last week. That'll last days, and there'll be nothing you can do about it. Except die, of course. But that would just make you a wimp. You shouldn't worry about that though; everyone knows you're one anyway. Oh, and when you decided to just give up, don't worry about that either, no one will miss you. And Jack will be all mine. He won't be able to resist. Why would he chose you anyway? You tried to kill him. I've never tried to kill him, though. And I never will. Besides, you can't have gotten over Lisa that quickly, can you? Or are you that heartless? I bet she never even loved you anyway. Why would anyone love you, Ianto Jones?"

She straightened herself up and looked down at Ianto. He had his eyes closed and was breathing evenly, but she knew he was still awake and that she had hear every word. She smiled to herself, then stood back exactly where she was before, putting on that guilty face she had used before.

There was a small war going on in Ianto Jones' head, a war to keep breathing evenly and not cry. What hurt most was that he knew that every word Gwen was telling him was the cold, harsh truth.

Jack came back in and observed the situation; the only difference he could see was Ianto seemed to have fallen asleep. Thank God, he though, it'll be easier to deal with Gwen without Ianto listening in.

Jack stepped closer to Gwen than he had been before. "You know what, Gwen? I don't want to know why you did what you did to poor Ianto. I just want you to know that you are now on suspension, to return to active duty when I decide. Do you understand?"

Gwen smiled suggestively. "You don't mean that, Jack. Let's just cut to the chase, shall we?"

Without waiting for an answer, Gwen leaned forward and pressed her lips to Jack's. Jack simply pushed Gwen away from him violently. He pointed at the door silently, shooting daggers at her. She scrambled out of the small flat as quickly as she possibly could.

As soon as the door slammed, Jack stood in front of Ianto.

"Okay," he said aloud. "she's gone, you can stop pretending to be asleep now."
Ianto sighed and sat up, not opening his eyes until he was sat up straight. He met Jack's eyes. "Thank you." He managed to croak out.
Jack grinned and sat down next to him. "Anytime. And I'm sorry."
Ianto looked at him sideways. "For what?"
"What she said to you."
Ianto visibly winced. "You heard."
"I did. Why didn't you say anything?"
Ianto shrugged, although it hurt quite a lot. "I didn't want her to know she got to me."
Jack smiled sadly at him. "I checked Owen's electronic report of xinerdryplass on my wrist strap earlier; Gwen was lying. What'll really happen isn't actually much from now; the worst passes after 24 hours, so not long. For the next 24 hours you'll just need to rest, although you won't think you'll need to, then you should be up on your feet again." He smirked a little. "Which means we can have a little fun in my bunker. Or your bedroom. Maybe even the SUV, I am not a picky man." An idea suddenly struck Jack. "No, on Gwen's desk!"
Ianto giggled feebly then yawned.
Jack stood up and held his hand out. "Bed time, I think."

Ianto took Jack's outstretched hand and heaved himself off of the sofa. He wobbled a little, so Jack wrapped him arms around Ianto. He then, without thinking, kissed the young man tenderly on the lips.

Ianto may not be feeling too well now, but he was going to be okay. Jack would make sure of it.

A/N:Well, that's that! I know Gwen is a little OCC, so please don't bother to tell me, I just needed her to be sour so it would work. Again, thank you to everyone who's read this (according to my story traffic, that's a hell of a lot of you, especially in America! Whoa!), I would appreciate it beyond belief if you could review! Even if you hated it! Everyone who reviews will get the virtual snack of their choice! All made with love and technology! x