Chapter 11

Authors note - SPOILERS I watched day 4 of children of earth and it's left me reeling. (have changed cos people were getting up in arms about spoilers, but to be honest if you look at anything torchwood related people will have already spoilt it. Wikipedia for starters.) Anyway thanks to that this chapter is kinda short and angst.

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Ianto didn't make eye contact as they stopped, Owen opened the door so Jack could slip out of the back of the SUV, still holding his precious burden, still bundled tightly in his military great coat.

Tosh and Gwen followed behind silently, not wanting the questions running trough their minds to burst out without the correct wording. Ianto was on a ledge and the wrong phrasing could metaphorically push him off into a dark depressing pit.

The cog door rolled back loudly, the siren was almost deafening in their silence. Jack and Owen immediately headed for the autopsy room to patch Ianto up. It disturbed Gwen that they didn't have a medical room, after all, an autopsy room isn't where you go to feel better and she hoped she never woke up on that table.

Tosh slid into her seat, bringing up the stalkers file and changing some things. "What are you doing?" Gwen asked.

"Getting that bastard for a couple of murders, rapes, an attempted kidnapping and anything else we can't solve." Tosh said with a cold steely voice that Gwen had never heard before.

"Good, the bastard is going to rot, but what about the real criminals for those cases?" Gwen asked.

"They were aliens, we can't exactly say that though, so we're just going to pin it where we can, he gives us the perfect scape goat. I want that bastard to hurt." Tosh said her voice was almost unrecognisable to Gwen.

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Jack put Ianto on the autopsy table, and held his hand, he couldn't let go yet, didn't want to.

"Alright mate, just going to check you over, alright, just need you to try be calm." Owen said in a relaxing voice, like one would use to talk to children. Guess that bedside manner course was working.

Ianto nodded mutely, but didn't want to let go of the coat as Owen tried to open it to get a look at his injuries.

"Ianto mate, I need to see, can't treat them if I don't know how bad it is. It's alright." Owen said, but Ianto still wouldn't let go.

"Ianto, love, let Owen look at you, please love, we need to try make you better." Jack said kissing Ianto's forehead and feeling the slight flinch again.

Ianto didn't speak but let go of his death grip on the coat, which Owen pulled away from his body, slowly so as not to startle him.

Ianto's body didn't look to bad, some insignificant bruises, there was a larger bruise on the left of his ribs that Owen checked more thoroughly. "Just bruising mate, heal up in no time. Ianto I'm going to need you to roll over." Owen said.

Ianto visibly winced and Jack had to turn him slowly and carefully onto his front, he'd regained feeling in his limbs, but he still wasn't strong enough to move much.

Jack ran a hand through Ianto's hair as Owen checked a couple of bruises on Ianto's back, he looked up to Jack when he saw the dried white on his back. He winced slightly as he reached for a rubber glove.

"Ianto mate, we know what he did, but I have to check to see if he did any damage alright, so stay calm, Jack's right there, nothing will happen." Owen promised as he covered a couple of fingers in lube and Jack tried to keep Ianto's attention on him. It didn't work.

Ianto tensed, going completely rigid as Owen slipped in a finger into his sore hole. He let out a humiliated whimper and dropped his head, not looking at either of them. Owen slowly slid the next finger in and as quickly and clinically as possible checked Ianto for any internal damage.

"No tearing, swollen and painful but it'll heal quickly." He said slipping his fingers out and Jack reached down to caress his lower back in a comforting gesture.

"We need to do blood work. But after I've taken it you can take him to get cleaned up Jack." Owen said reaching for a syringe and an alcohol swab. Jack helped roll Ianto back onto his back and moved to sit him up, sliding in behind him to support his weakened body.

Owen rudded the alcohol swab over Ianto's inner arm and slowly so as not to startle him inserted it. "It's alright mate, we'll send the fucker down for a long time, he won't hurt you again." Owen said as he slowly drew out enough blood for tests. "Jack hold this on will ya." Owen said handing Jack a cotton ball putting it over the end of the needle as he pulled it out and Jack applied pressure to keep it in place.

Ianto didn't say anything to them, nor did he really make eye contact and Owen was beginning to worry. "Something the matter with your voice?" He asked feeling along Ianto's neck slowly. His eyebrows drew together and he got a scanner out.

"Deep muscle bruising, he held you by your neck didn't he?" Owen asked and Ianto nodded, just barely.

"Does it hurt to try talking?" Owen asked and Ianto nodded again.

"Alright, I'll get some pain killers into you, then double check that bite." He said holding up a quick acting pain reliever, it was always good to keep a couple of doses tucked in the draw in case of emergencies.

Jack held Ianto as Owen slowly pushed the needle into his upper arm and depressed the plunger, the pain killer entering Ianto's blood stream quickly. Ianto seemed to melt and Jack almost toppled as all of Ianto's weight rested against him.

Owen put the needle in a box to be disposed of and moved round the table and peeled off the bandage he'd put there. The bite mark was angry and inflamed. It didn't need stitches though. "It won't scar, but it will be visible, maybe for a few months, but it won't leave a mark when it's fully healed." he assured, patting Ianto's arm lightly.

Jack moved the cotton ball to check the bleeding, seeing it had stopped he threw the ball into the waste basket and motioned Owen over to support Ianto while he got off the table. That accomplished he picked him back up into his arms, the Welshman once again wrapped firmly in his great coat.

"He alright to get cleaned up now?" Jack asked Owen who nodded and waved them away. Not needing any more encouragement jack headed for the locker room, not speaking to Tosh and Gwen as he passed.

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The locker room seemed more clinical than ever as Jack entered a cubical and with difficulty managed to get Ianto leaning against the wall, he removed his own clothes than took the coat from Ianto but always keeping some part of himself in contact so as to reassure the frightened man.

"Do you still want me Jack? Do I disgust you now?" Jack barely heard it over the rustling of his clothes, but he look up sharply at Ianto.

"Ianto Jones, don't you even entertain for a moment that I don't want you because of that psycho. He has taken nothing from you. Don't give him that control Ianto." Jack said putting his hands on Ianto's cheeks and making the other man look into his eyes. Seeing the truth. Jack could never not want Ianto, wouldn't matter if he was scarred, paraplegic or anything else, Ianto was special, he was unique and Jack loved ever facet of him.

"God Jack I could have something." he said his voice raising and getting slightly hysterical.

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter, your Ianto, you're the one I survive for, the one I came back to, the one I love so much I can't bare a second without you, the fact that one day we'll no longer breath the same air, or look at the sky. That terrifies me, so completely, having to go on without you, that's already promising an eternity of loneliness and pain. But I have to go on. Oh Ianto if I could we'd die together, I'd follow you from this world and we'd be buried together. I know that there may be nothing beyond this, but that doesn't matter, not to me, not anymore. You're my world Ianto and I can't fathom losing you, not a second before I have to. It's like, when you're here, all the dark, the darkness in my soul, the hidden parts of my mind, the very blackness of eternity. It's all light and nothing matters, the world could explode or stars could fall, but it wouldn't matter, not if you're there by my side. Loving me and giving my the pleasure of loving you. So don't you dare for a moment think that I love you any less." Jack said his eyes teary and voice thick with emotion as he kissed Ianto will all the passion in his being, hands wrapped in his hair and Ianto's own resting on his shoulders as they connected. As they lived.

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TBC

A.N. - I know it's short but it was written in a morning after I'd slept over the conclusion of day 4. Written in about 2 hours. Unbeta'd.