Title: Shattered Indignity
Author: Jedi-Bant
Summery: After an argument with Jack, Ianto is pushed off his apartment balcony, causing massive spinal damage, he is unlikely to ever walk again; but is Jack really capable of doing something like that?
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Ianto/OMC.
Warnings: Domestic Violence, Serious Injury, Language


Chapter 10


Finally allowed into the room, Jack slowly walked over to Ianto's bed, his eyes never leaving Ianto's as he approached. When he was close enough he took Ianto's hand and pressed a kiss to the back off it. He then sat down in the chair beside the bed so that they were at the same level. He held Ianto's hand against his cheek and leaned into it.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked.

Ianto gave a small smile, "like I fell off a balcony." He quipped. No one laughed.

"You're going to be fine; we'll get through this, just like we always do." Jack promised.

"I can't feel my legs Jack," Ianto whispered, fear leaking into his voice.

"I know, but that doesn't matter now, what matters is that you're safe, and I'll going to look after you. That bastard will never come near you again."

They sat just watching each other for a few moments before Ianto noticed Jack's shoulder.

"What happened?"

Jack glanced down at the wound, "nothing to worry about, it's already stopped bleeding." He said, purposely avoiding the circumstances that caused it.

Normally Ianto would have pursued the questioning, but the number of drugs running through his system currently seemed to be upsetting this thought processes, but it didn't stop him from noticing some other damage.

"Look at the state of your coat," he reached out and snagged the lapel, pulling it out slightly so the large blood stain was stretched out. "What am I going to do with you? You know the dry cleaners are starting to get suspicious with all the blood stained clothes I keep giving them." He chastised.

That drew a laugh from most occupants of the room.

"Well next time I promise to take my clothes off before I bleed then." Jack said with a wink.

Ianto laughed to and smiled, "I love you, Jack." he whispered.

"I love you too." Jack returned without hesitation.

"If you've all finished terrorising my staff and patients," the nurse interrupted. "We can all get back to work. I'll just page the doctor to come and see Mr Jones." With that she was gone.

"I think we'll go too," Tosh said, gesturing to the team, "we're just going to get in the way here, and I think the staff would be much happier if we were gone."

"Alright," Jack said, though he wasn't really listening.

"It's good to see you awake, Ianto." Tosh said, reaching over to squeeze his ankle, then stopping short when she realise he wouldn't feel it.

She quickly snatched her hand back, hoping he hadn't noticed, and went around to the head of the bed, where she kissed his forehead instead. Gwen did the same, while Owen just gave his a manly nod, though when Tosh and Gwen both gave him identical looks he rolled his eyes and moved up to squeeze his shoulder.

"Get well soon," He said before they turned to leave.

"Wait! Did anyone feed Myfanwy?" Ianto suddenly asked.

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the team for an answer.

Tosh stepped forward, "Yeah, Owen fed her for you, and the others." She assured him.

Ianto chuckled weakly, "bet he loved that." He said.

"Yeah, was a bundle of laughs," Owen said, his voice filled with sarcasm, before they all left.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, Jack and Ianto easily getting lost in each other, Jack relieved that Ianto was still alive, while Ianto was just relieved that Jack was with him. Ianto's family however just stood awkwardly at the end of the bed, unsure of how to deal with this new relationship.

"Who's Myfanwy?" Raewyn asked, breaking the silence.

Ianto and Jack exchanged a look, "just the office bird," Jack said finally, "Ianto is usually the one to feed her."

"I'm the only one who remembers." Ianto chided.

"It's kind of how we met," Jack added, giving Ianto a playful look, "she was a stray and Ianto asked me to help catch her."

Ianto rolled his eyes, "that's how he tells it." Ianto retorted, though it lost its effectiveness when he gave a huge yawn afterwards.

"Just try and stay awake until the doctor gets here," Raewyn said gently, "then you can go back to sleep."

Ianto gave a small snort, "like I haven't slept enough today. What time is it anyway?"

"About 7:30, and you've been through a lot today, with the surgery and all, you have the right to be tired," Rhiannon said, without thinking.

"Surgery!?"

Gareth cuffed his little sister over the head lightly.

"Opps, sorry," she winced.

Just then there was a knock on the door and Doctor Johnston stepped in, followed by the head nurse.

"Alright Mr Jones, I'm Doctor Johnston, I've been over seeing your case since you arrived at the hospital this morning, I'm just going to run you through a quick series of tests, and a few questions. But first," he turned to Jack, "Nurse Rebecca will be taking you down to emergency to have that shoulder looked at."

Jack opened his mouth to protest but the Doctor had already turned back to Ianto.

"Alright, can you tell me what day it is?" he asked.

He looked over at Nurse Rebecca who gave him a stern look and gesture for him to come with her.

"Go," Raewyn said, "We'll be here for a while yet, you don't need to worry. We'll stay with him."

He looked over at Ianto who gave him a very clear 'go or else' look.

Finally he left with the nurse.


Jack spent every moment he could with Ianto, leaving only when the team couldn't do with out him, or when the nurses kicked him out. Most of his work could be done from a laptop and mobile anyway, and he had promised Ianto that he would help him through this. His arm had healed by the next day, though he was sure to wear his sling while in the hospital though he usually got annoyed with in after a few hours and took it off, though the nurses just thought he was one of those annoying patients who didn't keep to their treatment, and he wasn't their patient anyway so they usually didn't persist in getting him to put it back on more then once. Except of course for Rebecca who had made it her mission in life to make sure he did as he was told and looked after himself.

"Jack Harkness, you will put that sling back on and if I have to tell you again I will staple it to your arm." Rebecca said as she entered the room.

"How did you know I didn't have it on?" Jack asked, "You didn't even look."

Ianto sat in bed grinning at the two.

"Because I know you, now put it back on," she said, as she moved to check Ianto's vitals.

Ianto had recovered much in the last two weeks. He was regularly found sitting up in bed, usually reading a book that his sister had brought him or a report he had stolen from Jack, while he waited for his next check up with the doctor, his psychologist or his physiotherapy session. One thing was for sure, he hated physio, therapy wasn't much better, but nothing was as bad as physio, which had been the cause of more then one tantrum over the weeks, but slowly they were getting to a stage that he would soon be able to leave the hospital.

"How are you feeling today?" Rebecca asked, taking hold of Ianto's good wrist to count his pulse.

"Alright, my back doesn't hurt as much today, though I'm sure Joshua will sort that out when he gets here," he replied, referring to his physiotherapist.

"Now don't start that again, if you want to get out of here you have to keep to your physio." She said, moving now to take his temperature. They had been very careful about checking regularly for infection.

"Trying to get rid of me?" Ianto joked.

"You no, you have been the picture of a perfect patient, when your not having one of your tantrums. It's him," she nodded to Jack, "that we want to get rid of."

"Hey!" Jack protested.

"Bloody pain in the arse if ever I knew one." She said, though a smile broke through her stern façade softening the comment. She had actually become quite fond of both men over the last few weeks.

"Ah you know you love us really," Jack said smiling, then he frowned and sank back in his seat glancing over at Ianto anxiously.

In Jack's mind this whole situation was his fault, if he hadn't been flirting on their date, he would have been there to protect Ianto, so what came naturally for him, was something that Jack was now trying furiously to suppress.

Ianto sighed, recognising Jack's new habit, and regretting his over reaction, he had known when he started his relationship with Jack that he tended to flirt and he shouldn't have over reacted.

"Yeah, yeah," Rebecca retorted, breaking the sudden tension, "Alright everything seems fine, Joshua will be up here in about half an hour," she went to the cupboard and pulled out a tee-shirt and some sweats, "he wants you to get ready to go down to the gym. You need to be in the chair by the time he gets here," she gestured to the wheelchair that sat next to the bed, before heading for the door, "and Jack, no helping unless he really needs it." She called back, before returning to her other rounds.

As she moved back to the nurse's station, Rebecca couldn't help admiring the bond the two men had. Through the last few weeks Jack had stuck by Ianto through the trails. Even as Ianto through everything in reach at the man, blamed him for not being there, and when he broke down afterwards. Jack had also had to put up with Ianto's families disapproval.


FLASHBACK

Rebecca had just started her shift, and was doing a round of her patients to see how they had all gone during the night. At Ianto's room through she stopped short of entering her patient's room when she heard raised voices.

"…are you sure he is good for you though?" Ianto's mother was saying.

"Mum, I love Jack and he loves me, that's all that matters." Ianto responded, exasperation in his voice.

Rebecca thought that this was probably one of the few times that Jack wasn't with Ianto.

"But will it last?" she persisted, "you're going to need a lot of help when you go home, and I'm sorry to say it but Jack doesn't seem like the most reliable person in the world."

"From what I've heard he'll flirt with anything with a pulse." His sister said sarcastically.

"Shh, Rhiannon," his mother said, before continuing, "We're just worried that when we go home again you won't have anyone to take care of you."

"Mum when I get out of here, I'll be able to look after myself, I won't need Jack to do it for me." Ianto said, his patience was obviously waning.

'One of his better days then,' Rebecca thought. Some days, Ianto was convinced that he would never be able to do anything ever again, that he would be stuck in bed for the rest of his life, completely useless. Those were the days that she dreaded, but all her patients had their ups and downs; it was a fact of life on this ward and of their injuries.

"I know that is what the doctors are trying to achieve, but I just think that maybe I should move down here for a while, maybe just a couple of months until your doing better."

"Mum! For the last time, I will be out of here in a few weeks, after that I will go to therapy, I will do my exercises, and anything that I can't do myself I will call Jack and he will help me, he is even going as far as too move in with me, you don't need to stay." He took a calming breath before continuing. "I need to do this myself; I have to prove, to myself, that I can get back from this, that I can life my life as I once did. I can't do that with you hanging over my shoulder. Can you understand that?"

At that point Rebecca backed out, confident that her patient was dealing with the situation, she would swing by later to say hello.

END FLASHBACK


Jack was good for Ianto, and Ianto for Jack, she just hoped that they managed to prevail through this trial.


Authors Note: I know I said this would be the last chapter, but it was getting so long that I decided to post this half first and the rest later. Hope you enjoyed it.

Jedi-Bant