Chapter Twelve: Fire and Stone
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Barry, Wales (UK):
They saw the flash of intense blue light first, then a half a second later they heard the scream and then Jack's ragged voice over the com saying not to follow him in.
"Jack? Jack!" Ianto screamed into the com. He and Gwen were still half way up the beach, but as soon as he'd seen Jack take off his coat and hand it over to Bobby, he started running. There weren't many reasons why Jack would take off his coat like that and if he thought something was going to go wrong…
"Jack!" Ianto screamed again, panic overtaking his senses.
Bobby caught him before he could get into the cave, pulling the frenetic man away from the entrance. "You heard him!" he shouted at Ianto. He'd been trying to raise the Captain on the com as well, but hadn't gotten anything but static.
By then Gwen had caught up. "What happened?" she demanded, choking, covering up her nose and mouth with both hands. The charred-flesh stench coming from the cave entrance was unbearable.
"Jack went in," Bobby told her. He let go of the other man when he realized Ianto had stopped struggling to break free.
The younger man hit the rock with the palm of his hand in frustration, calling Jack's name again, but still not getting an answer. He turned and leant up against the rock, both palms against his forehead, trying to collect himself.
Just breathe, Ianto told himself. Just remember all those other times he got up from things that should have killed him…
He'd promised Jack a long time ago he would never let their personal relationship affect their work relationship. But that was before he told me he loved me… Before Jack had gotten a proper clothes hamper, just for him; before had Jack asked him to move in.
"Ianto?" Gwen ventured carefully, her voice cutting through his jumbled thoughts. "Ianto…?"
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. He knew he wasn't fooling anyone, but he didn't care.
She laid a hand on his arm, "He'll be ok," she tried to sound reasonable. "You know he will. He's Jack," she added as if that fact made it all right. In away, it did.
Ianto took a deep breath and let it out slowly, running his hands over his short hair. She was right. This was Jack. "He'll be out here any minute laughing at me for getting upset." He tried to force a smile.
"He won't laugh at you."
"How long do we wait?" asked Bobby.
"As long as it takes," Ianto snapped at him. He took Jack's coat from the medic, mumbling an apology for his tone. "Why the Hell didn't he wait for us? He'd kill any one of us if we pulled a stunt like that." He was talking more to himself than to the others.
Ianto leant up against the rock again, clinging to Jack's coat. He looked at his watch. By his estimation, several minutes had already passed and there was still no sign of movement. He should be out already, but the cave remained dark and silent while the sickening odour of burnt flesh hung in the air.
Thirteen and a half minutes passed before they heard movement from inside the cave. This time no one had to stop him, Ianto stopped himself when he saw the shape Jack was in as he crawled out and collapsed at his feet.
Most of his clothes had been scorched off and what was left was singed black. Although it looked as if the worst of it had healed, his body was bloodied and burnt and he wasn't moving.
Ianto collapsed next to him, not daring to touch the tender, barely healed flesh.
"Should I get…?" the medic asked, but Gwen's head shake stopped him. Her grim expression didn't make him feel better about just standing around. He was a doctor, he should be doing something.
"I've got a bottle of water in the SUV," Ianto told them in a strangled tone.
Without a word, Gwen turned and headed back up to where Jack had parked, leaving Ianto and Bobby to watch as the last of the Captain's wounds healed. She would never admit it, but she was as heartbroken as Ianto to see the beating Jack insisted on putting his body through sometimes.
Bobby knelt down next to the Welshman, but he didn't make any attempt to come between them or even offer any of the usual words of comfort.
Even though he believed Jack would be all right, seeing him like this made his stomach churn. He'd been hit by the same energy that had turned three other people into heaps of ash; how could even Jack survive that?
As soon as it looked like it was safe to touch him, Ianto pulled his Captain's head into his lap, gently stroking his hair, silently willing him to wake up. He was breathing, he was alive, he was just out cold, probably some sort of trauma, the body's natural reaction to that much pain.
Ianto had a very hard time keeping the image of those other bodies out of his mind as he waited for Jack to wake up and laugh at him.
Jack opened his eyes just as Gwen returned, but it wasn't her he was looking at.
Seeing those blue eyes flicker open made Ianto's heart almost stop; realizing that his face was first thing Jack sought out as soon as he woke up made him shudder involuntarily.
"Hey there," Jack croaked.
"You scared the shit out of me, I hope you realize that," Ianto managed a weak smile.
He cracked a grin right back, although his expression made it obvious he was still in a lot of pain. He reached up and wiped the moisture from the younger man's cheeks. "Those had better not be for me," he teased, his voice still a hoarse whisper.
"Must be the sand," Ianto fibbed, not making any special effort to sound convincing.
The older man chuckled, and eased himself slowly into a sitting position with Ianto's help. "Damn," he muttered, looking down at himself. "Glad I took that off," he glanced at his coat.
"Here," Gwen handed him the water.
"Thanks."
"Now, don't you ever do that again!" she snapped.
"Why?" he replied with a cheeky grin. The smile faded when he glanced back at Ianto. "I'm all right," he insisted gently in the younger man's direction.
"Yes, Sir," he murmured. Then he shook himself. "Of course you are. But I'm with Gwen. If you do that to us again, you really might find a Weevil in your wardrobe."
Jack grinned. "I'll keep that in mind," he handed the empty bottle back to Gwen and with Ianto's help got to his feet. The younger man helped him with his coat.
"What happened?" Gwen asked, averting her eyes as Jack stood up.
"I found more of those rocks," he told her simply.
"Erm… Jack…" Gwen motioned vaguely in his direction.
"You might want to button up," Ianto clarified.
"I thought you liked this view," Jack teased him with a wicked grin.
"I may. However there are children on the beach."
"What do you mean 'may'?" he feigned hurt, even as he was checking his wrist strap for damage.
Fortunately, it had been designed to withstand a lot. His com on the other hand… Before he could ask, Ianto had handed his over. "Thanks." He used it to get in touch of Liz back at the Hub. He asked her to get with the local authorities and cordon off the entire beach. Then he wanted her and Wendy to join them there for a major removal operation.
"No, I do not need you to call UNIT," he snarled into the com when she suggested it. "We can handle this ourselves."
He let his gaze slide towards his young Welshman. Ianto seemed to have fully recovered from the scare he'd given him.
Mine? He suddenly realized the words that had run through his own head. When exactly had he started thinking of Ianto as his and his alone? He shook himself. He could think about that later.
"Oh and Liz," Jack added, before letting her go. "I'll need you to bring me a change of clothes. Thanks." He closed the channel.
"Now are you going to tell the rest of us what's going on?" Gwen pressed him.
"We've gotta get those things out of there. I want you to coordinate with the Cardiff police," he continued. "If anyone else found some of those things and took them home…"
Gwen nodded, seeing his point. She pulled out her phone and stepped away from them so she could make a few calls.
"I don't get it, though," said Bobby. "If they've been here since 1915…"
Jack shrugged, "Maybe something changed, maybe the cave wasn't accessible until recently. I don't know. Right now our only priority is containing the situation."
"How exactly are we going to do that?" the medic asked him. "We can't just go in there and pick them up."
"Someone must have," said Ianto. "How else would Miller and those other people have gotten hold of them?"
The Captain nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Given what we've seen so far, it seems like they need time to recharge. Hopefully I bought us enough time to get them out of here and back to the Hub."
"And if you didn't?" Ianto wanted to know.
"I'll be the only one going in," Jack told him. "And I'd better not find Janet hiding in my wardrobe," he added in a warning tone. "This is work. You can get mad at me the next time I go and do something suicidal just for fun."
The younger man gave him a dubious look, but refrained from comment. With Jack it seemed like those lines got blurred an awful lot.
"How many crystals were there?" Bobby asked.
"A dozen… maybe two dozen. I wasn't in there for more than a few seconds before they hit me. It was weird…" he began thoughtfully.
"Murderous rocks. What could possibly have been weird about that?" Ianto intoned, deadpan.
Jack shot him a look. "I mean… I don't know," he shook his head. "It almost felt like… Murderous isn't the right word, but it's close." He shook it off. They could figure it out later.
"What exactly are we going to do with these things when we get them back to the Hub?" Bobby asked.
Jack's grin was not reassuring, "Science is your department. But I, for one, am going to take a very long shower and," he raised his eyebrows suggestively in Ianto's direction, "finish up some paperwork in my office."
The younger man blushed while Gwen gave just them a look. She was just finishing up a call with Andy. Her former partner had agreed to help them discreetly get the word out about some potentially irradiated material that had washed up on the beach in Barry recently. It was doubtful Andy believed the radiation story, but he wasn't pressing the issue. "Do you really think this is that meteorite, then?" she asked Jack as she flipped her phone shut.
"I don't know. Like I said, science is somebody else's department," he winked at the blond.
"What was that line?" Bobby grinned right back at him. "Damn it, Jack, I'm a doctor not a geologist," he gave over his best imitation of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek, which, considering his accent, wasn't very good.
Laughing, Jack laid an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. "No, you're Torchwood. One day you're tracking giant bugs, the next day you're a geologist…" The sound of sirens wailing made him stop a moment. He groaned when the first police car skittered to a halt near the SUV. "Oh great. "The locals."
"Let me," Gwen told him. "Wouldn't want them getting the wrong impression of us," she gave Jack an appraising look. His boots had survived mostly in tact but that was about it besides the wrist strap. She headed back up the road to go talk to the Barry police.
"I don't know what she's talking about…" Jack looked from Bobby to Ianto and back again.
Ianto rolled his eyes. Hopefully Liz would be here with a change of clothes for Jack soon…And hopefully one will be enough.
"I need your phone," Jack said, holding out his hand.
Ianto handed it over with a confused look. "Do I even want to know?"
"Well, who do you know who has access to a big telescope?" he asked, although he didn't wait for the answer. "Maybe Victoria knows someone who was paying more attention back in 1915."
With any luck, they could track down where this thing had come from because that would go a long ways toward telling them what it was.
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Cardiff, Wales (UK):
Several hours later, and without further incident, they had relocated several dozen crystalline specimens to the Hub where Bobby and Liz could examine them, under strict security precautions.
Most of the pieces were grapefruit sized or smaller, but there were a few larger pieces that Jack had ordered sealed up; the bigger they were the greater the discharge.
The beach where they'd been found was quarantined under the pretence of radioactive material washing up. And as much as he hated involving UNIT, Jack wanted to get the entire rock formation out of there, so tomorrow a group from the United Intelligence Task Force was coming up to have a look at the situation and see if they could lend a hand. It was as yet undecided who would take custody of the rock.
"You really don't like to share, do you?" Ianto asked as the Captain hung up the phone with UNIT.
Jack had showered, just like he'd said he would, and changed into his third outfit of the day. He still hadn't beaten his record. Ianto could recall a particularly bad day in which Jack had lost three shirts and had to change clothes a total of five times.
The Welshman was surprised when Jack pulled him suddenly into his lap, a move that was completely uncharacteristic of the older man, especially since they were still technically on the clock.
Just the same, it only took him a second to realize how incredibly comfortable the position was. He wrapped his arms around Jack's neck and let himself be held.
"It might surprise you to find out just how selfish I can really be," Jack said into his lover's ear, his voice pitched somewhere between a whisper and a growl. His tone caused an immediate physical response in the younger man.
Jack found Ianto's mouth on his, his tongue playing at his lips. He responded, pulling him closer, both arms wrapped possessively around the younger man's body.
For a change it was Wendy who interrupted them, instead of Gwen.
Ianto hastily got to his feet, pulling his jacket back into place while Jack, in typical Jack fashion, just smirked. "Did you need something?" he inquired, as Ianto shoved his hands into his pockets in a failed attempt at looking innocent.
"Yeah…erm….I just… sorry… I… I was wondering if I could head out…or something," she floundered. "I… I'm not feeling very well…"
"What's the matter?" Ianto asked her, concern flickering across his face. Jack's brows were furrowed, as well.
"It's nothing. Just a migraine. It started on the beach, but it's been getting worse. I just need to get out of here for a while…"
"Go see Bobby," Jack told her.
"He and Liz have their hands full, I just need to find a place to crash."
"Why don't you use my flat?" the Welshman suggested.
"You've already got a houseguest," she reminded him.
"All the more reason to go talk to Bobby," insisted Jack. To make sure she did, he got up, took her by the arm, and walked her over to the medical bay, hollering down for the medic.
"Yeah? What is it?" Bobby asked, coming up the steps. "Wendy? Are you all right?" he pulled of the heavy gloves he'd been wearing, an added precaution, despite the fact that they had the crystals in a full containment unit. He tilted her head up to the light to look at her pupils.
"It's just a migraine," she protested.
"Think she can use Ianto's sofa for a while?" asked Jack.
"Take the bed," he told her instead. "I'll crash on one of the couches here."
She gave him a look.
"Go on. I don't think I'll be getting back there any time soon, anyway. Besides, this place has all the comforts of home," he told her. "I'll come by later and grab my stuff," he added.
"Are you sure you don't mind?"
"I honestly don't expect to get out of here any time soon anyway. Can I get you something for the pain?" he asked.
Her pupils looked ok, but when he felt her forehead, her skin was cool, clammy.
Wendy shook her head, "My metabolism isn't the same as yours. Most pain killers don't work. It should pass… I never get these," she added, turning to Jack. "My kind…" She faltered a little, the pain of the last few weeks, being disowned by her kith and kin, showed in her expression. "We don't usually get sick, not like this."
Jack continued to frown, "I'll give you a lift. And I want you to call me in a couple of hours, to check in. Consider that an order," he added when it looked like she was going to argue.
