26

"A nail gun" Ianto eventually said, "He got a job as a building site laborer and was shot by accident by a hydraulic nail gun."

"Would that really happen?" Gwen asked as she shook out the body bag and Owen danced back. The body had been hit with several arrows that had come through the rift, along with the man who had screamed horribly as he died. "Could you make that play?"

At least it was quick.

He arrived and left all at once.

"Dangerous things, building sites" Jack agreed, then waited with a sliver of hope.

"Was in the seventies" Ianto began his story and Owen did a silent punch of glee as there hadn't been a story all week.

"Wow, what were those days like?" Gwen asked.

"The end of the sexual revolution, still hippies, drugs and a lot of sex. Just a bit more subdued" he shrugged, "Gods, but those mushrooms."

Ianto laughed and Jack joined in, remembering the psychedelic highs.

"Anyway, I got a job on this building site. Needed somewhere to settle for a while so I agreed to this high rise apartment building under development. Skypoint it was called, never liked the place, shoulda known." Ianto shrugged, "Safety was not an issue back then, everyone just did what they could."

"It was a card game, nothing more" he warned Jack, "I wasn't dipping my wick then!"

Jack snorted and slid his hands into his pockets.

"So I was accused of cheating and as I have never believed in that … well apart from card counting but I mean … everyone counts the cards, right?" Ianto asked and was surprised by the gapes in response.

"What! Really?" he huffed softly.

"So … tell me" Owen was jigging on the spot and Ianto wondered for a moment if he needed the bathroom, then remembered that he had started a story. "Ah. The nail gun!"

"Yes, yes, hurry!" Owen whined and Ianto smiled softly.

"OK, so as I say, they got the pip with me for winning and one big guy, Norwegian I think, challenged me, swinging for me and as I ducked the others started to egg us both on." Ianto ducked as if he was back there and Owen squeaked, "Then I popped back up and swung back, trying to jump back as he tried to kick me in me sack."

"Bastard!" Owen growled with glee.

"Yeah, so here I was thinking I had this prick pretty well sorted when I hear this fully whomping noise."

"Ah ….." Owen's mouth was open again, his eyes wide as Ianto tapped a finger to his temple.

"Shot me, dead bang!"

"Who!" Gwen demanded.

"The Norwegian bastard's little brother, prick was as big as a brick shithouse too but the coward shot me with a nail gun." Ianto sneered, "I sort of yelped and then …."

Ianto clapped his hands together making everyone jump, then he did it again.

"Three nails to me brain!"

"Fucking hell!" Owen breathed.

"It was weird, I came back in the tray of a Ute, they were taking me to bury see and it was so dark that I thought I was blind at first then I saw stars and realized it was out in the country somewhere" Ianto sighed, "the worst part was the lack of sound as my hearing was effected, my sense of smell too and that was so … weird."

"Weird" Owen did the little repeating thing he does when excited.

"I got a hammer from the tool box and managed to pull them out, blacking out again and when I woke again I could hear like … underwater. All muffled and strange."

"What did you do?" Owen shuffled close.

"The brothers were digging my grave and one was standing in it as the other stood at the side talking down at him so I picked up a shovel and swung, the man's head cracking like a watermelon. He fell down at his brother's feet and he was still standing there when I slapped the shovel done on his head too." Ianto said calmly, "I made sure they were dead, my fear of being buried alive in the front of my mind, then I covered them over and left."

"You killed them" Gwen said with surprise.

"I'm not a saint, Gwen" Ianto said as he faced her, "I did what I had to, to survive. Besides, they killed me first!"

"I'm … I'm not judging you" Gwen said as she shook her head, "I just … that must be hard to always have that in the back of your mind. The knowledge that your life might end at any given time. Does it make life fickle?"

"Gwen" Ianto sighed, raising a hand to stop Jack's retort, "I know you didn't mean it the way it came out. No, my sister, life is not fickle to me. Not mine or anyone else's. I killed them as they knew my secret, they had watched me die and come back. Also, they had shot me in the head, dangerous to have my head damaged. I was angry and not quite myself yet. I do not enjoy killing but I do it. My kind, your kind. In the end there can be only one."

Jack was angry, apparent in his tightly pursed lips as he glared at Gwen.

"It's OK Cariad" Ianto soothed, "Gwen does not accuse me personally, she does not understand our fears. She is mortal and death stalks her more closely, she chooses not to see it, as you ignore the wolf about to bite you in the hopes that it will lose interest."

"I'm sorry" Gwen said as she plucked at Ianto's sleeve, "I didn't mean it as an accusation. I mean … to know that you are hunted, must hunt. That is what I mean. Does it get easier with time?"

"No Gwen" Ianto smiled as he drew her into a hug, "The day it does not matter is the day I die, for I will cease to be human. For the day killing is easy is the day I become a monster and I deserve to lose my head"

"Have some?" Owen asked, "Have some lost their minds?"

"Yes" Ianto turned to Owen and grasped his hands, "If I am ever challenged in broad daylight, it will be by one who has forgotten themselves and the rules of engagement. If this happens promise me you will run. Don't look back and don't call my name. It will kill you to harm me, weaken me and then I will die."

"Me?"

"Owen, I love you. You are family and as such you make me vulnerable." Ianto said as he looked over the team.

"But I would not change it, I would die for you, all of you" he said with confidence, "You are what keeps me human."

"Agreed" Jack said softly, "They keep me alive too."

They did not speak again as they found a building site and Tosh did the necessary paperwork.

It was cold comfort to Owen, knowing he might well be a nail in Ianto's coffin.

The team that kept him alive might also be the death of him one day.