Sorry for the delay, I've been away. Ianto is coming home and someone is waiting for him ...
Five Go Mad in 1969
Chapter Twenty Five
"There are times, Owen, when I don't like you." Ianto glared at the doctor.
"You can complain as much as you like, I'm not letting you out of here until you're fit." Owen stood by the window, unmoved by his cousin's entreaties.
"When's that going to be? I need to get home, find out what's going on with Jack. They should have found him by now."
"I talked to Suzie this afternoon. They're broadcasting appeals on the radio and there's adverts in the newspapers as well. He's going to see them wherever he's got himself."
"But I could help!"
It was Tuesday evening and Ianto had been in hospital for the best part of three days. He didn't remember the first day, floating in and out of consciousness and feeling very confused, but since then he had done everything Owen and the other doctors had told him. His headache had gone, his hands were healing and he could walk to the bathroom and back unaided. He had even talked to the psychologist. Ianto wanted out.
"If you have a good night, I think you might go home tomorrow."
"You are so infuriating. Tell me straight, are we going home tomorrow?" Ianto held his breath.
In general Owen was happy with Ianto's progress. As long as he didn't try anything too strenuous he was almost fully fit. His mental state was another question. Dr Gamage had seen Ianto for the second time earlier in the day and confirmed he was suffering from survivor's guilt and the general aftereffects of trauma. Concern for the missing Jack was adding to Ianto's anxieties. However, all this was to be expected and did not require in-patient treatment. Time would help Ianto come to terms with his trauma. Being in familiar surroundings and helping with the search for Jack could only be a good thing.
Owen decided to come clean. "Yes, we're going home tomorrow."
"Hallelujah! Does Mam know?" Mrs Jones was back at the hotel after being with Ianto all day.
"No. I'll tell her this evening. But," he wagged a finger in Ianto's direction, "if you don't do as I say, I'll put you under house arrest."
Ianto didn't care, he was too busy anticipating getting back home. He wanted to check exactly what they were doing to find Jack and get them to do more. Then there was the flat to sort out – Gwen had been there on her own and she was not very tidy – and make sure someone had fed Myfanwy. Owen had supposedly passed on his reminders to the team but that didn't mean anyone had acted on them. He had to get the flat in order for when Jack returned. Everything had to be perfect.
-ooOoo-
The Rift opened at seven on Wednesday morning and Sandra, who had the portable monitor at home, called in Gwen and Suzie. When they discovered debris from an exploded alien satellite spread over half an acre, Mac was brought in to help them locate and secure all the pieces. It took nearly two hours, in the rain, and the three of them were dripping wet when they rolled into the Hub at nine thirty with a dozen more crates to litter the lower level.
"I'm going to dry my hair," complained Suzie. Her natural curls had turned to frizz.
"Takahiro wants a meeting as soon as you're ready," said Sandra. She glanced up at the boardroom when Mr Sato and Toshiko were working.
"Five minutes." Suzie ran up the stairs.
"I'll make some drinks," offered Gwen. She went off to the kitchen.
"Give me the details, Mac. I can start entering them in the database," said Sandra.
Ten minutes later they were gathered in the boardroom. The table was covered in scraps of paper and large maps. They took seats and Mr Sato smiled at them all.
"I shall not keep you long but there have been a number of developments. First, Ianto and Owen are leaving London shortly. They will be back in Cardiff this afternoon."
"That's great," said Gwen. She was munching a piece of Marmite toast, her breakfast for the day. "Mrs Jones coming with them?"
"Yes. I have arranged a UNIT driver as Ianto is not fit enough to drive. He will not be coming into work until tomorrow at the earliest."
Gwen stopped eating, her face dropping. "Oh no! The flat is a disaster area. He'll have a fit if he sees it like that. I'm going to have to clear it up before he gets home."
Mr Sato smiled. "I think we can spare you for an hour."
"Not sure that's long enough. He has high standards." She pulled a face and took another bite of toast.
"Don't worry, he'll re-do everything anyway," put in Toshiko.
"He may not be up to it," said Mr Sato. "He has recovered well physically but has been through a traumatic experience. Owen does not want him under any unnecessary stress. We must not allow him to take on too much too soon."
"That won't be easy," said Gwen. "He hates sitting around doing nothing and he'll insist on helping search for Jack."
"I've got an update on that. Want me to tell them?" asked Toshiko looking at her father. When he nodded she went on, "There's been lots more sightings. Nothing from Jack yet, but there does seem to be a pattern emerging." She reached for a map of southern England. "The majority of the early sightings were in London, the more recent ones show movement away from London heading north. Most are close to the M1. He's hitch-hiking." She showed them on the map. Small stickers with dates showed each sighting, first in Buckinghamshire then through Hertfordshire. They stopped at Northampton.
"Where's he going? Does he know the area?" asked Suzie.
"Not as far as I know. Gwen?"
"He's never said anything to me. Could just want to get as far away as possible." She scanned the other papers on the table and spotted the corner of the London map she had been working on. She pulled it free. "I thought he'd stay in London; you can hide there. I plotted the best sightings on this."
"We cannot rule out any possibility," said Mr Sato. "However, we have alerted the police forces covering the next stretches of the M1 to be especially vigilant, especially at service areas where he may be obtaining rides."
"Can we get them tae put up posters?" asked Mac. "Jack might see them. Would warn drivers too."
Toshiko smiled at him. "Good idea. I'll get onto that."
"Make clear Ianto's alive," said Gwen, "otherwise he'll ignore them."
"We will leave you to continue with that, Toshiko," said Mr Sato. "Suzie, where do we stand on the transport of the money UNIT stored for us?"
"It's coming this afternoon. I've just to confirm a transfer point."
"Good. Finally, I had an interesting conversation with Maimie Blenkinsopp. She is convinced The Doctor was at Canary Wharf during the Cybermen's invasion. According to her, he did not cause it but was the only one who could have ended it. Mac, if you are feeling up to it, please go through the statements of survivors and witnesses once more, see if there is any mention of him. I have details of what to look for in the office."
"I'll get onto it." Mac was tired from the earlier operation and welcomed a chance to stay in the Hub. He was still bathing in the glow of Toshiko's smile and hoped he might win another if he stayed close.
The meeting broke up and they left Toshiko to her task. Gwen walked out with Mr Sato and asked, "What's happened to John Hart? Did Martin give him that new pill?"
"B67? I am not sure. In the confusion, it may have been forgotten. Thank you for the reminder. Would you check with him for me?"
"Of course." She went to her desk with a spring in her step. She still had a job, Toshiko and she were friends again and Ianto was coming home. If they could find Jack too, everything would be back to normal.
-ooOoo-
"Are you all right, Ianto? Do you want to stop?" asked Mrs Jones softly. They were in the back of the Triumph just leaving the outskirts of London. Owen was in front with the driver, a young woman called Patricia, whom he was chatting up.
"No."
"Then what's the matter?"
"She's driving a bit fast. Jack will kill me if anything happens to the car." They were in the Triumph, the American's pride and joy.
She smiled. "Stop worrying and enjoy the journey. I wish you'd come and stop with me. There's Rhiannon's room." She planned to take an extra lodger when the university year started in September - if Owen really didn't want to move out of the little room he currently occupied – but it was empty at present.
"I want to be home, Mam. So he'll know where to find me." He squeezed her hand to soften his refusal, not needing to say who 'he' was; there was only one 'he' for Ianto.
Mother and son went back to looking out of the windows, watching the tightly packed houses change to more spacious suburbs and then fields. The sun was hidden by clouds and rain threatened the further west they travelled. This did not affect Ianto's mood. Getting back to Cardiff meant he could take an active part in searching for Jack.
-ooOoo-
The flat was stuffy as well as untidy so Gwen opened windows as she walked round deciding what needed to be done. Both beds needed changing and the bathroom and kitchen could do with a scrub. A pile of washing up awaited. There was Myfanwy's litter tray to empty. Everywhere needed dusting and the vacuum cleaner running round. If she was going to get it all done in an hour, she had to get cracking.
"Out of the way, puss." Myfanwy wanted attention after being alone for so long. "Ianto's coming home and he'll give you lots of cuddles."
Rolling up her sleeves she made for the main bedroom. Myfanwy trailed behind her.
-ooOoo-
The armoured vehicle arrived at the deserted airfield just after two o'clock. It bore the logo of Harwoods' Haulage, a well-known South Wales firm, but was driven by a man in uniform. The two other troopers riding in the cab were also in uniform and held their automatic weapons across their knees. The vehicle rumbled over the broken concrete and stopped by a UNIT Land Rover and an anonymous white van.
"Here we go."
Suzie got out of the van, hunching her shoulders and pulling up her collar. The rain had turned to drizzle and everywhere was grey. She walked to the armoured vehicle, meeting up with Captain Stainton, local UNIT commander. He didn't seem affected by the weather and stood ramrod straight. Three troopers were lined up behind him and were soon joined by the three from the armoured vehicle.
"Any problems, sergeant?" asked Stainton.
"No, sir." The woman stood to attention, eyes fixed somewhere above the officer's head.
"Good. Good. Shall we get on with it, Ms Costello?"
"Yeah, lets."
Suzie waved and the van moved forward. Mac was driving with Toshiko sitting beside him. He expertly manoeuvred the van until its back doors were lined up with those of the armoured vehicle leaving just enough room to open both sets. Toshiko hopped out and opened the van doors before getting inside. Troopers did the same for the armoured vehicle, all six of them climbing aboard. Guided by Toshiko, Mac backed the van until the two vehicles were separated by just a few inches. Suzie jumped in beside Mac and knelt on the passenger seat looking into the interior of the van through a mesh grill.
"Check every one, Tosh." She spoke loudly, wanting the UNIT guys to hear. "Don't want any surprises."
"Okay." Toshiko turned on the scanner which would detect tracking devices and put it on the floor of the van. "Pass every crate over this," she ordered the troopers.
"Don't trust us, do you?" muttered one.
"Damn right we don't," said Suzie who had extremely good hearing. "Not with this cargo."
The process of unloading the crates of money salvaged from Canary Wharf began. The troopers were quickly organised into three sets of two. Two in the armoured vehicle passing the crates to two more standing over the gap between the vehicles who, after passing them over the scanner, passed the crates to the remaining troopers who stacked them in the van. Toshiko stood a little to one side, checking the scanner and marking off the crates on a list pinned to a clipboard. Fifty three minutes later, they were done. The van moved forward and Toshiko secured the doors.
Suzie went to join Captain Stainton who had retreated to the Land Rover. "Thank you."
"I wish you'd learn to trust us," he said. "We weren't going to steal your precious crates."
"You might have done if you'd known what was in them."
"We have enough artefacts of our own. The Black Archive is quite extensive," he preened. Clearly he had not been told what the crates contained.
"This lot isn't artefacts, it's money. Lots and lots of money." She grinned at his startled expression and headed back to the van. Getting in beside Toshiko, she said, "Time we were out of here."
"Och, wha' have you said?" asked Mac. He put the van in gear and pulled away. The van moved slowly under the heavy load and he did not push it to go any faster.
"Me? Nothing." She grinned. "Keep a watch out for observers or tails. They may have anticipated our little trick back there."
-ooOoo-
"You don't remember the accident then?" asked Rhiannon.
"Not at all." Not surprising, thought Ianto, considering it never happened.
"Caused by those robot things, I suppose." She sipped her coffee. "Hard to believe they were hallucinations."
"Very."
"It seemed so real."
Ianto stroked Myfanwy, who was sitting on his lap, and sought another topic of conversation. He had been surprised to find Rhiannon waiting for them outside the flat. Alerted by their mam, she had left David with Mrs Davies and come to meet them. In the bustle of getting into the flat – tidier than he'd expected – they'd exchanged the conventional pleasantries. But now they were alone – Owen had walked the UNIT driver to the station and Mrs Jones had gone shopping - it was harder to make conversation.
"You say David's doing well?" said Ianto.
"Oh yes, he's fine. I'd have brought him with me but … well, Mam said you needed to be quiet and you can't be quiet with him around!"
"Guess not."
Rhiannon placed the coffee mug on the table. This was a good opening, probably as good as she was going to get. "There's something I wanted to ask you. We're planning the christening and I wondered, we wondered, Johnny and me, if you'd be a godfather."
"I'd love to. When is it?" He was pleased his mam had prepared him for the request, made accepting much easier.
They were still chatting about the arrangements when Mrs Jones let herself into the flat. Half an hour later, when the shopping had been put away, the two women left. Mrs Jones took a carrier bag of Ianto's dirty washing with her.
Left alone, Ianto wandered through the flat. In the bedroom he picked up the photograph of him and Jack and ran a finger over the familiar face of his lover before replacing it where he could see it from the bed. Picking up Myfanwy, he went to the living room and sat enjoying the familiar surroundings. Calmness filled his soul.
-ooOoo-
The Hub was crammed with more crates. There were the ones containing scavenged artefacts and technology from Canary Wharf, those with pieces of the satellite found that morning and now thirty or more containing money. Owen arrived in time to be dragooned into helping unload the van. He and Toshiko carried the last crate and dumped it with the rest.
"I hope you're not expecting Ianto to put this lot away," he said, sitting on the crate. "He needs time to recuperate."
"We know. Suzie's done some already. Is he up to visitors? Gwen suggested we go round this evening," said Toshiko.
"No problem. I'm going to check up on him on the way home. If you go round later he won't be on his own too long."
"I thought I might tell him about the search for Jack. Put his mind at rest that we're doing all we can."
"Good idea. He's worried about it though he doesn't say a lot." He stood up as Mac came over to join them. "You're looking fit."
"Aye, no' so bad. Thanks tae you. Mr Sato wants a word."
In the office Owen said, "You wanted me, sir?"
"Please sit down, Owen. Thank you for all you have done these past few days."
"Ah, it was nothing." Owen shrugged off the thanks, pleased but trying to appear modest.
"I also want to know if you have decided yet on your future. Toshiko mentioned that you have been offered a post at the hospital."
It took a moment for Owen to remember the meeting with Dr Haskins and the job offer. That had been … Friday, he decided, just five days ago, and yet it seemed like a lifetime. Owen had telephoned his supervisor once to say he was still sick but not thought about the place otherwise. His decision had been made and it didn't involve going back there.
"Yeah, I have. But I'm not going to take it. If you still want me, I'd like to work for you."
"I am delighted to have you. There are some formalities which I shall ask Suzie to go through with you. How soon can you join us?"
Bet you thought it was someone else waiting for Ianto :) Next time, the friends chat and we get our first news of Jack ...