Rated T?? Adult themes.
Thank you Allestian for dialogue tweaks!
Eleven
"Jack! Stun gun. Autopsy room. Now!"
The strain in Merelyn's voice over the com had Jack running so fast he nearly fell. He skidded to a halt at the railings above the autopsy room.
Down below, Ianto and Merelyn faced off over the autopsy table.
"Let me go, Merelyn." One of Ianto's hands held a hypodermic to his other bared arm, the shaking tip of the needle a scant few centimetres away from the vein.
"No." Merelyn's fists were clenched tight. Sweat beaded her forehead.
Jack crept down the stairs as quietly as he could.
"Please, Merelyn." Ianto's voice was weary, pleading. Shaking more, the needle edged closer, almost pierced the skin.
"No!" ground out Merelyn. She hauled in a breath. "Cariad, you're still sick. I hadn't finished before…"
"I can't do this anymore. Let me forget. I'm not like you. All this… It's so hard."
"And that's what makes you the strongest, the best of us," said Jack coming up behind him. "Because it's harder for you. We need you."
Ianto's head turned. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face wet. "What for? Make the coffee? You've got her for that now."
Jack stunned him, caught him as he dropped and lowered him gently to the floor.
Merelyn keeled over too, her exhaustion plain in the lines etched into her forehead. "Thank God we don't use Neuralizers to forget. He might have actually done it before I could stop him."
"Neuralizers?"
"Flashy thingys." She gave a shaky laugh at his complete non-comprehension. "Jack, you're hopeless." He helped her off the floor and she leaned weakly against the autopsy table, waving him back over to Ianto.
Jack checked the pulse in Ianto's neck, then picked up the hypodermic. "Is this pure Retcon? There's enough in here to make an elephant forget." He found himself actually considering letting Ianto go.
"Just a cry for help," said Merelyn quickly. "Believe me, he wasn't trying very hard. Besides, if he'd really wanted he could have taken an amnesia pill without anyone noticing, instead of hanging around til the others had gone and being all dramatic with me. Perhaps it's time for something a bit more dramatic back. My Mam wouldn't have hesitated. She'd have had him completely well long before now." Jack could feel her frustration at her own inadequacy. "Me - I don't quite have her strength of mind, in more ways that one." She heeled her hands into her eyes suddenly. "A whole week of blocking! Not so much as a second's break. I don't know how he managed it; he shouldn't be able to, not just like that. And I don't know how I managed to stand the silence." The catch in her voice had Jack reaching for her. She clung to him for all of three seconds before waving him off. "Well don't just stand there. Get him up to the SUV!"
Jack eyed the long body crumpled on the floor. "You could have said before I zapped him!"
Intent on his passengers in the back, Jack swerved suddenly to avoid the huge EU articulated lorry that appeared in the SUV's headlights. The artic rumbled past, horn blaring.
"It's left in Wales, Jack! They can remember, why can't you?" Merelyn glared from the rear-view mirror. "Remember which country you're in! You might be able to survive an RTA, we can't!" Her eyes widened. "Left, Jack, left! The word's only got four letters, which one don't you get?"
Jack corrected his steering and risked another peek.
Ianto lay cradled against Merelyn and she was rhythmically stroking his forehead. "Ianto. Cariad." Her voice was low and gentle, yet very compelling. "You're not alone, Ianto. Let it ease, love. We're here. We're all here, Lisa and Jack and Merelyn. We love you. Stay with us. You live. We're always here. You're never alone."
As he drove through the dark streets, listening to the low, gentle tones, Jack felt the ache spread out in his chest in a great, slow wave until it shut out the voice. He couldn't hear it, couldn't hear anything at all. He really needed to hear, he needed the voice to hang on to, or he was lost. His hands began to shake on the wheel, his vision began to blur as he fought to listen. Every single cell in his body became an ear, listening. If he listened hard enough he'd find the voice, be safe. He wanted to find it. He needed to find it…
A thread of sound came, banishing the pain. The sound grew, became words and a soft, gentle voice. "You live. We're here. Always. You're never alone."
Jack shook his head, found himself outside Ianto's tiny end-terrace house, wondered how he got there.
"Jack. Jack! I'll open the front door, you take him in."
"Why do I have to do all the hauling about?" he grumbled as he opened the SUV's rear passenger door.
Merelyn chuckled as she slid from her seat. "That ass of yours is great for donkey work. Hey, mind his head!"
"My ass is great, period. And don't try and tell me you haven't noticed." Merelyn didn't even bother glancing back as she went up the path. "How about you?" Jack asked Ianto as he pulled him out of the SUV. Ianto's eyes remained closed. "No? Damn. It could have been fun, Ianto. But you're better off with her, far better. She has a lot of love in her heart."
"Jack!"
"Not that she's showing any of it right now." Jack got a better grip and staggered after Merelyn, Ianto draped across his shoulders in a fireman's lift. "No more takeaways for you, Ianto Jones!"
"Seems to me it isn't Ianto who needs to cut the takeaways." Merelyn held open the door for him before heading up the stairs.
"You have got to be kidding!" gasped Jack. "I'll never make it!"
"Then we'll just wait for you to come back and try again. Come on, Jack. It's not Everest."
"It might as well be." He hoisted Ianto into a better position, slowly lurched his way up and managed to turn into the bedroom whose lamp illuminated a queen bed that used up almost all available floor-space. With a final groan, he heaved the inert body onto the mattress that Merelyn had already stripped of its quilt and top-sheet. He braced his hands on his knees. Gradually, his heart-rate got back to normal. "Is that it? Is he okay now? Do we just go?"
Merelyn cut him a look from where she knelt beside Ianto, busily unknotting his tie. "Not me, I'm here for the night. All part of the treatment."
"But I thought…? In the car?"
"Simple reassurance, nothing more. It's what comes now that heals."
"But…" Jack found he couldn't actually remember much about their journey. "Okay, I'm staying too." He eyed the big bed. "It isn't as though there isn't room. It's funny, I always kind of imagined him coming home to a narrow single."
"He hoped to share it with Lisa, I expect." Merelyn slipped off the bed, came over to him. "Jack, you don't have to stay. I can handle it from here." She gripped his arm through the sleeve of the heavy grey coat. "Thank you. I couldn't have got him here on my own."
The hand on his arm was shaking. She was nervous. "I remember, you kept saying 'we' in the car. Me and you… and Lisa?"
She lifted a shoulder. "He loves her, remembers her. She's here."
"And I'm here too. And I'm not going anywhere," he added quickly as she opened her mouth to protest. "Miss a chance to observe a healing talent in her natural habitat? No way. So what do we do?"
The protest altered to acceptance, relief and something else he couldn't quite catch. "I… Okay, Mr Attenborough, you'll like observing this. We take Ianto's clothes off."
Despite her sudden grin Jack felt she was still concerned about something. "Don't worry. I won't-"
"I know. You let yourself care enough sometimes to be unselfish. I know."
"That was…" That was either the best thing anyone had said to him in a very long time, or the worst. He smiled crookedly. "You have very clear sight, Merelyn Evans."
She pulled a rueful face. "I hope my sight's clear enough for this. Jack, I… I've only done this - this acceleration process - on my own once before, for Mamo. It was very hard, left me weak for a long time, I mean pretty sick. This is different - healing not setting adrift - so I'm not sure…"
"And you wanted me to go? Merelyn!"
"Ianto should be fine by morning, I mean completely well. He'll look after me."
He caught her hand. "We'll look after you." He kissed her palm as he had once before. "So let's get him in the buff."
Jack gave a long, low whistle. "Buff being the operative word! So that's what's under the cute suit. More cute. I had no idea!" His eyes roamed every inch of Ianto's well muscled, long limbed body.
"Expecting flab, were you? He's been working out. With me." Merelyn's tone was somewhat smug. "Now you know why he's so heavy."
"He is just … wow! Everywhere. If I'd known I'd have got him in the buff ages ago!"
"I don't think so. Like I said, you care enough to be unselfish. You knew he wasn't ready - for you or anyone else."
The perfect opening. "So… you and he… you aren't…?" He couldn't believe how hard it was to ask.
Merelyn merely raised an eyebrow.
He gestured vaguely around the bedroom. "I mean, you kinda know your way around."
She gave him a long look before finally saying, "You ever had his stir-fry? Or his pasta? He offers, you say yes. Always. Even if he leaves you at the bedroom door and heads for the settee after."
"Would you?" That came out so fast he had no chance of stopping it. "If he hadn't left?"
This look was even longer than the first. "If he's as good in bed as he is in the kitchen, I'd have been daft not to." She reached up and patted Jack's cheek in a motherly fashion. "As it is, peck on the cheek's as far as he got, Jack. I told you, he wasn't ready." She looked up through long lashes. "Besides, his thoughts have been travelling in a completely different direction lately."
"Oh? How different?"
"About a hundred and eighty degrees. He wants to see how the other half lives. But not tonight. Tonight he's a patient." She pulled the quilt up over Ianto and gently stroked his forehead, before turning mischievous eyes back to Jack. "You'll have to see what morning brings. Oh, tonight is so going to drag for you." She pulled off her jacket, began unbuttoning her shirt. "Get 'em off, Captain Jack. You wanted to stay, let's see how you measure up."
She was stripped off and under the quilt before Jack had managed to get his boots off. Pulling Ianto's arm around her, she snuggled in as close as she could, laying her hand over his heart. She didn't bother to hide she was watching Jack.
"Well?" he demanded.
She wrinkled her nose. "Not bad - for an oldie who eats way too much greasy take-away."
"I take great pride in eating Chinese or a good Indian on a regular basis." He slipped into bed on the other side of Ianto.
"Too much isn't good for you - especially when their partners find out."
"D'you know that for a fact, or have you just pinched my line?" Merelyn laughed. After he realised he wasn't going to get a better answer Jack asked, "Is bare skin necessary?" wondering if that was why she was so comfortable in it.
"Mamo always said so. No-one thought anything of it when I assisted her and we stripped off in Llanmyrddin. Bit different at UHW. That's why I haven't tried this since Mamo."
"Anything in particular I should do - or not?"
Merelyn resettled on the pillow, ensuring her forehead touched Ianto's temple. "Turn out the light, then just be close. He knows you're there."
Jack stroked Ianto's cheek, then kissed it. "Get well, Ianto. We want you back. Sweet dreams."
He reached around and turned off the lamp, laid his head on the pillow so he could see Merelyn's outline across Ianto, and let his eyes adjust to the dark.
Five minutes later Merelyn said, "For God's sake, Jack, pack it in! You could at least pretend to sleep!"
"I'm observing. I want to see you do your thing."
"I'm doing it. What did you expect? The Vulcan mind-meld? Shut 'em!"
Obediently, he shut his eyes. About half an hour later he cocked one eye open, then the other. Ianto and Merelyn were both breathing as though asleep. Carefully, he twisted around and turned on the bedside lamp, then hitched himself closer to Ianto's warm length, wrapped his leg over Ianto's so it entwined with Merelyn's, laid his arm across Ianto's lean belly, rested his hand firmly on Merelyn's hip and settled himself in for a long night of watching.
Have to mention, the whole forming of Merelyn Evans, her character, looks, history, this whole umpteen thousand words began with a single image of a girl and Jack helping a distraught, grieving Ianto through his front door. A whole ten months so far spent in Jack and Ianto's company. Imagination. Just love it!