Alright onto chapter twenty five.

Monday saw Jack remain home with Ianto not willing to leave him alone while he was ill like this. He rang Toshiko and told them not to wait for the two of them. Let's just say that Tosh wasn't overly pleased.

"What have you done now Jack?" She asked when she picked up the phone.

"I haven't done anything," He replied, "Ianto isn't very well and neither am I, so we won't be in school today alright."

"Should I be wondering why the pair of you are both ill, on the same day and at the same time?"

"Look I met up with Ianto on Saturday and he wasn't feeling too well. I saw him again on Sunday and he stayed for tea and now neither of us are well, okay?"

He heard Toshiko sigh, "Fine I'll let everyone and the school know."

"Thanks Tosh." Jack put the phone down and looked down the stairs for no real reason he just did it - almost upon reaction – to check that the door was locked and that no one had just walked in while he had had his back turned and had been on the phone to Tosh.

Jack made his way back into the spare room where he had left Ianto and smiled at the younger, who was now sleeping once again.

Without Jack and Ianto the day seemed to go differently. Owen was incredibly bored and kept glaring at John finding something strange that he was almost continually smirking in his direction. At the end of the school day all that Owen really wanted was to go home and sleep, (one of his favourite things) but he refrained from doing so and instead walked around to Jack's house and knocked on the door.

It was Jack who answered, looking completely well to Owen, but then again he was no doctor – not yet at least.

"Alright? I'll just come in shall I?"

"Yeah sure," Jack replied stepping aside to let Owen in, "And yes, I am alright thank you."

"Good, what about Ianto? Is he feeling any better?" Owen asked curiously, guessing that Ianto would still be here.

"I think so, he's been sleeping for most of the day." Jack replied.

"Can I see him?" Owen asked as he opened his bag and pulled out a box of chocolates and a card.

"Yeah, but Ianto doesn't like chocolates." Jack told him as Owen headed up the stairs. Owen stopped and turned to face the American.

"The chocolates aren't for him they are for you." Owen threw him the box of chocolates and Jack caught them before making his way up behind Owen. Jack entered the room first and was slightly annoyed when Ianto opened his eyes and Jack thought that he had woken the younger up.

"Sorry I woke you."

"No I was already awake." Ianto replied before he pulled himself into a sitting position. Owen watched as Jack moved over to be by his side to help him. In Owen's opinion, Ianto looked more than just sick, bearing in mind that he also rarely ever got sick.

"Here," Owen extended his hand to give Ianto the card. Ianto took it from him and Owen watched as he looked at it carefully, "Alright Tosh, Gwen and Rhys signed it as well, but it was my idea overall and I bought it and I got you these." Owen said as he took a bag of green grapes out of his school bag.

Ianto took the grapes as well with a smile, "Thanks I like grapes."

"I heard that from Tosh, so I bought you those on my way home. Instead of getting you some chocolates like I got Jack." Owen replied as he chucked his bag down onto the floor and sat down on the carpet.

"Thanks. You never know they might just help me to feel better and the card of course." Ianto put the grapes down and opened the envelope that the card was in and opened it up to read the individual messages that the others that written for him.

"Don't I get a card?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, same one that Ianto's got, we wrote it for the both of you like you did for my birthday card. You know all couplely and all that," Ianto frowned and looked up at Owen and Jack did a similar thing before he started laughing, "What?"

"There is no such word as 'couplely,' Owen." Ianto told him.

"And even if there was I don't think that I would like it. It doesn't sound right for a couple."

"Sorry I'll call it all couple like in future." Owen said it as if he meant it, but there was a smile behind it, a smile that told Ianto he had only used the fake word to make them smile.

Owen stayed with them for most of the evening before he went home claiming that he had homework to do that (in the end) wouldn't actually get done.

Jack had once again spent the night carefully watching Ianto and in the morning when the younger was no better he gave in and rang the number that doctor Smith had given him to phone in case he needed him for whatever reason.

"Hello."

"Hi, Doctor Smith, it's Jack."

"Ahh just John will do Jack. Now what can I help you with today? Is there a problem with Ianto?"

"No no, he's doing well I believe. He hasn't tried anything, but I was ringing you about a different thing, because you see he has a high fever and he has since – well a high temperature – since early Sunday morning. I tried looking after him yesterday, but nothing that I do seems to be working, so I was wondering whether you would be able to come around to mine and take a look."

"Of course, I'm working until lunch, but I can make my way over after if you can manage to keep his temperature as it is or lower. If it's a relatively basic illness then it should just drop down soon on its own, but keep a watch on it anyway just to be on the safe side."

"Okay thanks."

Owen was the only one who had seen Jack and Ianto. The others were glad that they were both alright, but Owen had decided not to mention the fact that Jack wasn't actually ill when he had seen him.

Owen was alone in both maths and in science and for his free lesson, but he was glad when it came to English when he had Toshiko to sit next to and talk to and the same thing in Russian with Gwen and Tosh.

Jack let the doctor in and showed him upstairs to the spare room. The doctor didn't ask any questions as to why Ianto was with Jack and not at home, but he knew well enough that he would later when he had sorted out Ianto's fever as that was a doctor's job.

Ianto was awake as he had been for the past hour almost, although he had been slightly delirious though at first and had almost blacked out a few times before everything in his mind had cleared again and he could think on more reasonable terms.

That was the first time thatJack had mentioned the doctors visit and Ianto hadn't complained as much as Jack had thought that he would, showing that the younger must be feeling worse than what he was saying he felt.

"Hello again, Ianto," Doctor Smith started as he entered the room, "Jack told me that you aren't very well." He then sat down on one of the chairs that Jack had brought up and Jack sat on the other, carefully slipping his hand into Ianto's.

"I told him that it started on Saturday when I saw you and you weren't very well," Jack said filling Ianto in on part of what he had said before he turned to the doctor, "He spent his time laughing at me for the past day and a bit when I was googling things to do for a fever." Ianto smiled slightly and Jack watched as John laughed at his comment.

"I can imagine that he would."

"So what's wrong with him? What caused his fever?"

"Slow down Jack," Ianto told him, "The poor doctor has only just got here and you are already nagging him."

"I prefer pestering." The American replied and Ianto rolled his eyes atJack's choice of term.

"Has he been eating anything?" Doctor Smith asked, interrupting their little conversation.

"Yeah up until today. We had pasta on Saturday, Chinese on Sunday, toast every morning for breakfast and he had grapes yesterday as well, but he didn't have any tea last night. He told me that he wasn't hungry. Same thing today, he wasn't hungry."

"He is still in the room." Ianto mumbled once Jack had finished speaking.

"What about being delirious or confused, paranoid even maybe. Has he had any of that?"

"Just a couple of hours ago he was delirious for a little while."

"Anything else?"

"Well he was blacking out a few times when he was delirious, but I put it down to him not having eaten anything. Is that wrong?"

"No that could be one explanation for it. Ianto may I have a look at the back of your head please?" Ianto shuffled around, so that he was at an angle that the Doctor could reach his head clearly to see whatever he thought he was looking for.

Jack watched as the doctor went about his work and engaged in some small basic conversation.

"We have a friend called Owen who wants to be a doctor when he is older."

"Ah well it's a good job you see." Doctor Smith replied before frowning slightly as he moved away from looking at Ianto's head.

"Is there something wrong?" Jack asked, worried and confused.

"Well there are defiantly signs of head trauma, which could explain the blackouts or they could also be, because he hasn't eaten anything which is even more likely if they have only started today."

"But couldn't the head trauma have caused the fever?"

"It could well have, but at the minute there is no proven correlation between the two. I'll check for any inflammatory anywhere. Mouth open." Ianto followed the instructions that he was given and then Doctor Smith seemed to come to a conclusion after retaking Ianto's temperature.

"I reckon that from this Ianto is suffering from a form of hyperthermia called heat exhaustion. That could be because of the head trauma or because of a different reason, although Ianto looks to me too be quite a bit underweight. That would put stress on his body and elevated stress can up body temperatures."

"So you don't think that it is anything overly drastic?" Jack asked after the doctor had finished is explanation.

"It could be and it still could become dangerous, but from what you told me and looking at the temperatures he's had previously when you have taken then, it seems to be going down which is a good sign that it is nothing overly major which is quite lucky. As usually people who come into A and E who have head trauma also have some form of memory loss or temporary amnesia."

"Ianto has had none of that believe me." Jack replied, glad that it hadn't been worse. He could just imagine how he would feel if he woke up one morning to find that Ianto had no clue as to who he was.

"I suggest that you keep him off school for another few days, because although his fever will have probably left him by tomorrow I highly doubt that he will feel up to doing that much, so I think maybe going back to school on Thursday would be alright, but it depends on how he feels of course."

"Right, got that, thanks." Jack was almost at the door when the doorbell rang and he jumped down the last few to answer it, the doctor following along behind him. Jack was surprised to see Owen at the door with yet another box of chocolates which Jack presumed were – once again – for him.

Strange since he hadn't even eaten the first lot yet as he had only had two of them last night.

"Hey, I'm coming in," Owen walked in and then stopped to look at the doctor, "Who is this?"

"Owen, this is Doctor John Smith, he came to check up on Ianto's fever."

"I was going to ask how is it?"

"Going down." Jack answered simply.

"Good," Owen replied just as simply before turning his attention to the doctor while extending a hand, "Owen Harper. I want to be a doctor when I'm older."

"Jack said," He replied as he took Owen's hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you Owen Harper."

"Thanks again for coming to see him at such short notice."

"You're welcome," He paused for a moment, "If he is well enough I suppose I will see you Thursday evening?"

"Yeah I think that we can manage that," Jack was aware of Owen watching him carefully after he had shut the door, so he pointed to the chocolates, "I don't think that I need any more of them. I haven't managed to eat the first lot yet."

"There not for you Jack, they are for me instead," Owen told him, "God I need them after the day that I have had really you wouldn't believe it."

"Wouldn't I."

"No you wouldn't. Now is Ianto still upstairs, I brought him some more grapes."

"He won't eat them. He's not hungry." Jack told him, however Owen wasn't listening as he made his way up the stairs. Jack followed up behind him and found that Owen had sat on a chair rather than the floor this time and that he had already given Ianto the grapes, who was – to Jack's surprise – attempting to eat some of them.

"So this fever."

"Getting better," Ianto replied, "Thanks for the grapes by the way."

"Jack said you wouldn't eat them."

"Yeah I wasn't hungry earlier, but now that you have given me these I am."

"Don't you have any from yesterday still?" Jack asked as he sat down and pinched one of Owen's chocolates, which only succeeded in getting him a glare from the said person.

"No I ate them all yesterday evening."

"Any way Owen, what were you going to tell me about your day at the wonderful world of school?"

"Well without you too I have been-" Owen told them everything that they had missed and then left the pair alone for the evening.

In the morning Jack found that Ianto was already awake when he went into see him and that he was reading a book.

"Hey, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Better." Jack took his temperature anyway just to check that and was glad to see that it had gone down quite a bit.

"Do you want to see your Uncle today or wait until tomorrow?"

"Can we see him later today?"

"Sure, I'll get breakfast." Jack headed downstairs and he would have walked straight passed the living room had he not noticed that Rhiannon's diary was still there. He walked in and picked it up, carrying it out to the kitchen with him.

He was flicking through it while he made coffee and toast. Rhiannon had written accounts for every single day without any gaps between the dates. It was her way of writing about the things her Dad did that got Jack when he read it, but then when it came down to it her diary was another piece of proof.

Suddenly Jack found himself wondering whether the reason that Rhiannon had told Ianto that she was keeping that diary was a lie and that there had been a different reason entirely that she had kept it. A reason that she knew may help both her and Ianto if it ever came down to it.

When Jack told Ianto this later, the younger seemed to wonder on this as well. The pair of them set out later to talk to Ianto's Uncle who was surprised to see them at such an early time in the day. One of the first things that he seemed to notice were the marks around Ianto's neck, so Ianto turned his collar up to try and hide them.

"We have something to ask you." Jack started, breaking the silence that had been created.

"Go on." The man replied.

"If we could get you out of here," Ianto started, "And providing that we could win custody, do you think that it would be alright for me to stay with you."

"You mean like permanently live with me?"

"Yeah."

"I'm happy with that, but there is no way that you can get me out of here."

"Take a look at this." Jack said as he slipped the photograph that he had found the other day over the table to him. Dafydd Lewis looked over the picture carefully before he looked up at Ianto.

"I knew it. You knew it."

"So will you help us to get his Dad done for abuse and get him to be able to live with you?" Jack asked.

"Yes. Yes I will." Ianto smiled and stood up at hearing that and his Uncle did the same.

Jack stayed sat down and watched as the pair of them hugged each other as if they had been Father and son. The American smiled as well and wondered what Ianto's life could have been like had his Uncle been his Father.

But maybe that could still change, all that they needed was a brilliant case to stand against everything that they had proof of and take down the only thing that stood in the way of Ianto's life and future.

Okay as promised next chapter will be Tuesday evening or Wednesday, but I hope that you enjoy this one. Thanks for favouriting, alerting, reviewing and reading.