12
A ranch home in the middle of nowhere. Long shadows. Late golden sunlight through a mist of sawdust. Abstract wood sculptures are visible. Juniper wood, carved along the bias of the grain, polished to accentuate the curves of natural growth.
An elderly lady runs a sander over a work in progress - 60's, in coveralls, grey hair tied back, her face shielded by goggles and a bandana. She pauses to review her work, shutting down the sander, slipping off her goggles and bandana. Her face is eerily familiar.
Her name is Rhiannon. She now moves to the window, catching sight of something outside. Curiously, she watches a vehicle coming down the long driveway. A dusty, grey cutter. Lester's ride.
Rhiannon opens the front door. The cutter is now docked in the port and a stranger is staggering towards her. In his arms, is an unconscious man. Now Rhiannon can see the face - younger, but unmistakable even so.
Her voice comes in a chilled whisper "Oh, God... Oh, my God"
A floral bedroom. Ianto lies in bed, wheezing, semi-conscious. Rhiannon slips a pill between his lips and tips in some water. Jack stands watching. Rhiannon ushers him out of the room.
The kitchen is arrayed with modern technology but softened with paintings and craftwork. Art marginally overwhelming science. Rhiannon starts making some herb tea in the traditional manner.
Photos show a younger Rhiannon along with some of a little Ianto grinning for the camera never seen together. Jack sees the photos of Ianto stop around puberty, and funnily enough, it's where Rhiannon's start. Different stages of life suggest siblings, Jack wonders if she was adopted if not for the fact they are so similar it would seem she 'arrived' one day in her teens.
"What did you give him?" Jack asks as he watches familar hands work, just a bit older.
"Just something to help him sleep. I think he has a bronchial infection. But I'm not sure I should give him an antibiotic in case it effects the baby." She answers.
"So you know about the baby" Jack asks and Rhiannon pauses, reality sinking its claws. She looks at him.
"Isn't that why you came here?" she turns to look at him with surprise, looking like Ianto around the eyes.
"I found your name in the listings. I wasn't sure. You don't look like him." Jack smiles, "For a start. You're a girl!"
"They have a plan... For women like me" she states.
"So you're the one who takes his baby." Jack sighs as Rhiannon winces at him.
She pauses, hanging her head, searching within herself. "You know when you're young? How you run around thinking you're immortal?"
Jack's look says he has no idea. She seems not to notice. "There was an accident. I was... damaged. I was born a boy but in my heart, I knew I was supposed to be a woman. To be me. I hated my male body and thought this would save me. Now I look in the mirror and wonder why I bothered. After that, I thought no man would ever want me. I was wrong. His name was John. He said he married me for my eyes. Eyes to drown in, he called them. He always loved the ocean. Up there on the wall, that's John's boat."
Off her gesture, Jack glances at the wall. A watercolour of a yacht. Meaningless to him but Rhiannon gazes it at, fondly "But I think there was always an unspoken regret between us. When we heard about the technology, it was like... forgiveness, like a second chance. A child of our own, part of both of us. Sailing trips, fishing trips, so many plans..."
She turns and wipes her face, "John got cancer a year ago. He died."
Her eyes mist, distant and bittersweet, talking to herself now. "Ironic. That the same technology could have saved his life. And now the baby is the only part of him I have left. And the boat. I still have the boat."
Jack looks discomfited. There's more to this than he thought.
A slant of light falls across Ianto, writhing in his sleep, rasping. Rhiannon and Jack peer in through the doorway, checking on him. Then Rhiannon quietly closes the door.
Jack paces around, feeling useless. Rhiannon considers him "What do I call you?"
"Jack. My name's Jack" he stops to look at her.
"Jack, I think he needs professional help. I think he needs to see a doctor"
"No. They'll find him." Jack barks with fear, "They'll take him."
"Not if I don't want them to." She shakes her head.
"You don't understand. They don't want people to know about him." Jack steps closer as he tries to explain, "Either of us."
"The doctor I'm thinking of, he's an old friend. He look after John in the final stages. I trust him."
"Why? So you can take his baby?" Jack narrows his eyes.
"No. No, that's not what I want." She defends herself but sees Jack's blunt look, she sighs, lowering into a chair. "Maybe I didn't realize he'd be so... Maybe I just didn't want to. Either way, I was wrong. I want you to know that. I was wrong... And I'm sorry. It took so long to create him and in between me and John signing up and now, I lost the reason for the baby."
A heavy lull. Jack hangs his head, remembering. "They make you believe there's a place called The Island. Then they take you upstairs and put you to sleep. They cut you open. They take pieces of you."
Rhiannon looks at him, thinking. She allows a pause, then "Even if I had taken his baby, I swear to you, I'd never have... They give you a choice, you see, to extend the sponsorship after... after delivery."
"No. I saw a lot of us go to The Island." Jack snorts, "But I never saw anyone come back."
"You mean... Even if I had extended the sponsorship, they'd have... and kept taking the money? But that's inhuman."
"Is it? I wouldn't know." Jack snarls, turning to check on Ianto again.
.
.
.
It's dark as the vehicle pulls up at the ER entrance, Jack at the wheel. Rhiannon gets out of the passenger side. A doctor is waiting. 50's, caring face. His name is Dr Smith. He looks curiously at the man at the wheel. Then greets Rhiannon with a hug.
"Rhiannon... It's good to see you. I haven't seen you since John's funeral." He greets her.
"Well I've been keeping busy. Trying to. Thanks for coming down to meet me."
"Your call was a little cryptic. What is it exactly that's wrong with you?" he smiles as he keeps hold of her elbows, continuing the embrace.
"It's not me... Not exactly." She opens the rear door of the Vehicle. Ianto is lying on the back seat. Dr. Smith frowns as he notices the resemblance.
Jack stands waiting. There are chairs but he's too tense to sit. Rhiannon and Dr. Smith now enter. Jack looks at them, expectantly. There's a pause.
Then Dr. Smith speaks "Your friend... he has pneumonia. At a very advanced stage. Its progress has been unchecked by his immune system."
"Can you help?" Jack asks nervously.
"We have two options... One is a super-biotic. But there's the risk his immune system might bow out of the fight. The other is a nodal transfusion. Rhiannon has agreed to be the donor. But the new antibodies may not conform fully. They may decide to attack the baby" Dr Smith says softly as he watches Rhiannon move to stand by Jack.
"I don't understand any of this." Jack tells her.
"He means that by trying to help him, we could lose him. Or lose the baby." She says sadly, watching as Jack's face crumbles.
"Or, if we do nothing, both. His immune system is... remarkably unstable. If we don't act, the infection will take over." Jack lowers into a chair. He feels a pain somewhere. He can't quite pin down where. Or what caused it. Or why it hurts so bad.
.
.
.
Ianto lies in bed, dozing, looking more relaxed. His oxygen mask makes breathing easier. Jack enters and sits beside him. He stirs, meeting his eye with a faint smile. Jack returns it "Hello, stranger."
"You look tired, Jack." Ianto gasps behind the mask.
"Ianto..."
"It's okay. I know. Rhiannon told me." He sits up, lowering his mask. His hand finding Jack's. "She told me a lot of things. About how they used a tiny part of her to make me. She said it wasn't so very different."
"What do you mean?" Jack raises the hand in his and kisses the knuckles.
"From this... From having a baby." Ianto strokes the belly with his other hand as Jack nods. A pause. Ianto continues, more troubled, wheezing "She told me how they use us... And I keep thinking... about the others... the ones we left behind, about how they'll never know... how they'll..."
Ianto's out of breath again, coughing. Jack helps him put the oxygen mask back over his mouth. Ianto slumps back, relaxing. Jack's worried and Ianto smiles at him with his eyes "I'm going to be okay, Jack."
"I know." But even to his own ears, the affirmation sounds hollow.
Jack finds a restroom before he breaks down. The stream of water gushes into Jack's hands. He splashes his face. Then looks at himself in the mirror. He looks sallow from restlessness. The facial hair makes him look like a shadow of his former self. For an instant he tenses at a light blinking in the glass. Blue light. Like a Vidcom. Then he sees it's just a humidifier on the far wall. Tension ebbing, he splashes some more water. When he looks up again, he sees his pupils are dilating. The sense of danger. His voice comes in a cold whisper "No"
Jack emerges from the restroom, scanning for the danger's source. Figures flash past in scrubs, white coats. Then he sees it. The figure emerging from the elevator. The face of the Leader.
A flurry of disturbance from the nurses as someone barges into the room. Dr. Smith is prepping Rhiannon for the transfusion. Hearing the ruckus, he looks up. Jack comes up to them, urgently "We have to go. We have to get him out."
"What are you talking about?" Rhiannon asks with confusion.
"He's come for him. For us." Jack hisses with urgency.
"Whatever this is about, we can't move him. He's already under sedation." The doctor says pointing to the next bed.
Jack looks to see Ianto, asleep.
"How long before he wakes up?" Jack demands.
The procedure takes three hours but..." the doctor starts but Jack is already dismissing him.
"You'll take care of it, won't you?" he asks Rhiannon, "Take him somewhere they can't find him?"
Rhiannon, understanding, simply nods.
Jack takes a last look at Ianto, then leans down and kisses his parted lips softly, "I won't forget you."
Jack hesitates, then departs.
Dr. Smith, bemused, turns to Rhiannon "Rhiannon, what the hell's going on?"
